Galasso has one. It’s disguised concealed under a cocktail-style Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machine. Now you know why every pizza restaurant has one of those.
The secret code for ordering a resurrection is “anchovies”. It’s brilliant, no one ever questions that pizza restaurants have that on the menu even though nobody ever orders it.
Think we are seeing Dorothy coping with her own trauma using her old ‘work harder’ mindset. Problem is, this was a situation where working hard wasn’t needed, everyone just needed to relax and acting presidential is really out of place here.
I dunno. Depends on your background. Lots of people celebrate their version of Dia de Muertos around the time of Halloween and spend that holiday week remembering and celebrating their beloved dead.
Don’t know if that was what Dorothy had in mind, but it’s pretty common.
Dorothy does have Catholic family, and the All Hallows Eve / All Souls’ Day / All Saints Day holidays are Catholic traditions. Is what I mean. Just a hypothesis.
Good guess, but nah, she’s a well established atheist and probably doesn’t celebrate any Christian holidays except for the popular secularized versions of Easter and Christmas.
As we saw in the previous panel, she’s just standing on an unofficial soapbox like a grown-up Lisa Simpson
SuperZero
…and the popular secularized version of Halloween, probably.
You can be an atheist and still live certain religious traditions you grew up with, and even find them useful
Sirksome
Feels a little weird to me, especially since she volunteered to say something when that wasn’t asked for or intended. I guess everyone there probably does know Mike but this feels random to bring up unprompted.
Archieve
Agree, whether Mike has passed away or is on life support at this time everyone seems to be trying to temporarily forget what happened. Dorothy has seriously misread the room here.
GholaHalleck
this is post-rooftop, they found out he’s dead right after the hope spot.
Laura
True, but some people are “culturally Catholic,” and still have their own special holidays to celebrate in a secular way, even though they don’t believe in the theology behind it. The Halloween / Hallow’s Eve / Dia de Muertos / Souls Day traditions strike me as those kinds of secular holidays that some folks might see as both somber and celebratory at the same time.
Rabisch
Dorothy’s family is atheist. But their culture of origin is the Jewish one..
BBCC
Well, sort of. IIRC, 75% of her grandparents are Catholic, so that’s probably what most of her parents upbringing was.
BBCC
Dunno why I said sort of. Yes, their family is partially ethnically Jewish, but religious-culturally, I’m pretty sure they’re mostly Catholic.
yeah other than at his wake/a gathering in memory of it, seems like ethan and amber would have their own private thing about it. dunno if ruth/billie will walk in together later as well with even more awkward timing
Is this wrong or something? Sounds perfectly fine to me. It is the school where Mike is from. It’s not just Mike who’s gone, he’s a student from that school who is gone, that almost everyone knew of him existing
she’s trying really hard to ease the tension by addressing it by name instead of letting it be the elephant in the room — I honestly understand Dorothy way too well, I’m exactly that kind of ‘let’s fix it by leaning in’ problem solver who would not let the sleeping dog lie in an awkward situation.
if someone just died very recently you will be thinking about them, and almost everyone at this party is. the whole situation was very traumatic, and everyone responds to it differently. i dont have a problem with dorothy politely and gently acknowledging that ((and it helping her work through her trauma))
Some people see any occasion where people gather and… stop, basically (stop working or whatever) as a chance to “bring some things up”. Some of these people are well-intentioned. Others are social pursuit-hunters, and will do that at EVERY occasion until stopped.
Yeah, if Mike turns out to just be in witness protection this whole time, I would laugh really hard. It also would be a very Mike thing to only tell Walky he was alive – knowing he is the one goof-ball no one would believe.
I feel like it has been pretty well established in the comments section that Mike’s death is to be taken provisionally, and if it is a fakeout, it might on a loooong. time.
witness protection for what, though? the only people he witnessed committing a crime are dead. like, it would not surprise me if he was still alive having faked his own death but witness protection would very unlikely be one of his ways unless he saw that shitgrill get murdered in the hospital.
jackiedu46k
“Witness protection for what? Nobody was convicted of anything!!”
The Oracle
I do have to wonder how useful Mike’s knowledge would have been against the mob overall. From what we’re told, Blaine was basically the equivalent of a door greeter for them, was he not?
Reltzik
Blaine had a front business that existed for the mob to launder money through it, and Mike got a good look at the receipts back in a flashback strip.
If he remembered all that stuff (which was years ago, but Mike is VERY good at remembering inconvenient facts forever), and Blaine for whatever reason didn’t preempt it by moving things around (which might cause the mob to ask questions and learn that Blaine was clumsy enough to spill their secrets)?
…then Mike could point police to a huge money trail. And also a huge amount of money. Both of which the police would be happy to get their hands on.
It’s not a troll. Mike is dead. Walky just doesn’t know because he’s not close enough to Mike’s family to know. Families don’t normally inform a person’s roommate on their condition. That’s a very low priority call.
According to this strip, Walky was at the funeral. (Ok, a little reading between the lines, but Sal wouldn’t offer condolences over Blaine, and starting to quote Walky saying something about the funeral certainly indicates he was there.)
Sirksome
The funeral probably hasn’t happened yet. I’m not super sure on how the timeline shakes out but Amber was informed and this is maybe a day or two after that. Funerals can take weeks to get setup. Even preparing the body for viewing if they chose to do that can take a few days. Walky can still attend the funeral and not know Mike is dead in this moment.
cbwroses
This is supposed to be Halloween, which was a least a week or two after the garbage roof get together.
Also, since Amber seemingly got the news at that get together, it’s really doubtful she wouldn’t tell Walky during this time.
Sirksome
Actually now that you mention it I think that would be incredibly in character for Amber to not tell Walky Mike died. She is not good at sharing important information or being emotionally vulnerable.
Jason
Also Billie said at the beginning of this storyline that Mike was dead. If Billie knows, Walky would know.
Unless there’s another Mike? I think it’s more likely that Walky has just dissociated the fact that Mike is gone.
Tan
The strip Otl1973 was attempting to link to is earlier in this same flashback. It happened already.
Stifyn Baker
Appropriately, that seems to be a dead link.
Username Taken
…You do know that link’s alive, right?
jonathan young
OMG nice one
Username Taken
Thank you lol
Needfuldoer
Which strip? Your link did the thing where it just goes to today’s URL with a double quote at the end.
Well, it’s possible from that reading that maybe they were talking about Blaine’s funeral, not Mike’s. But now I will either need to re-read the last like, year’s worth of comics to see when and where it explicitly says MIke is dead. Or just wait a day or two and see if the next strip makes more sense.
BBCC
I don’t think Amber would be broken up at Blaine’s funeral.
Sarda
That only makes his comment even more confusing, but given that everyone else in the room is awkwardly looking at him as he says that, I doubt they’re under the impression Mike is still alive at this time.
286 thoughts on “Attention”
Ana Chronistic
Walky got a working Martian resurrection chamber we don’t know about?
ThunderNight
Turns out Blaine was in cahoots with Aliens all along
Doctor_Who
Galasso has one. It’s disguised concealed under a cocktail-style Ms. Pac-Man/Galaga machine. Now you know why every pizza restaurant has one of those.
The secret code for ordering a resurrection is “anchovies”. It’s brilliant, no one ever questions that pizza restaurants have that on the menu even though nobody ever orders it.
Some Ed
My father actually orders anchovies frequently.
Dodgy heart, he needs them pretty often.
Victor
Anchovies are delicious.
And it’s just not pizza without pizza fish on it.
Reltzik
I thought the resurrection machine was how they kept those machines running after all these years.
Wack'd
Galasso overheard pandering to nostalgia for two weeks ago is really in right now
darkoneko
Oh come on, really ?
darkoneko
People are coping and trying to have fun and you’re all “yeah ok but remember; THAT GUY IS DEAD”
Archieve
Think we are seeing Dorothy coping with her own trauma using her old ‘work harder’ mindset. Problem is, this was a situation where working hard wasn’t needed, everyone just needed to relax and acting presidential is really out of place here.
Decidedly Orthogonal
Mike: “I’m not dead yet.”
Mortician: “Oh you think so do you?”
Sirksome
Why…why would you talk about that at any party?
Laura
I dunno. Depends on your background. Lots of people celebrate their version of Dia de Muertos around the time of Halloween and spend that holiday week remembering and celebrating their beloved dead.
Don’t know if that was what Dorothy had in mind, but it’s pretty common.
Laura
Dorothy does have Catholic family, and the All Hallows Eve / All Souls’ Day / All Saints Day holidays are Catholic traditions. Is what I mean. Just a hypothesis.
The Wellerman
Good guess, but nah, she’s a well established atheist and probably doesn’t celebrate any Christian holidays except for the popular secularized versions of Easter and Christmas.
As we saw in the previous panel, she’s just standing on an unofficial soapbox like a grown-up Lisa Simpson
SuperZero
…and the popular secularized version of Halloween, probably.
Ray Radlein
You can be an atheist and still live certain religious traditions you grew up with, and even find them useful
Sirksome
Feels a little weird to me, especially since she volunteered to say something when that wasn’t asked for or intended. I guess everyone there probably does know Mike but this feels random to bring up unprompted.
Archieve
Agree, whether Mike has passed away or is on life support at this time everyone seems to be trying to temporarily forget what happened. Dorothy has seriously misread the room here.
GholaHalleck
this is post-rooftop, they found out he’s dead right after the hope spot.
Laura
True, but some people are “culturally Catholic,” and still have their own special holidays to celebrate in a secular way, even though they don’t believe in the theology behind it. The Halloween / Hallow’s Eve / Dia de Muertos / Souls Day traditions strike me as those kinds of secular holidays that some folks might see as both somber and celebratory at the same time.
Rabisch
Dorothy’s family is atheist. But their culture of origin is the Jewish one..
BBCC
Well, sort of. IIRC, 75% of her grandparents are Catholic, so that’s probably what most of her parents upbringing was.
BBCC
Dunno why I said sort of. Yes, their family is partially ethnically Jewish, but religious-culturally, I’m pretty sure they’re mostly Catholic.
RedCat
No, they’d be Jewish is they weren’t atheists.
Wack'd
A lot of Jews are atheists, actually.
The Wellerman
I LOVE Dia de Muertos celebrations! especially ones with candy skulls! ?
anon
yeah other than at his wake/a gathering in memory of it, seems like ethan and amber would have their own private thing about it. dunno if ruth/billie will walk in together later as well with even more awkward timing
JepMZ
Is this wrong or something? Sounds perfectly fine to me. It is the school where Mike is from. It’s not just Mike who’s gone, he’s a student from that school who is gone, that almost everyone knew of him existing
DashWallkick
she’s trying really hard to ease the tension by addressing it by name instead of letting it be the elephant in the room — I honestly understand Dorothy way too well, I’m exactly that kind of ‘let’s fix it by leaning in’ problem solver who would not let the sleeping dog lie in an awkward situation.
Jonah Sanville
if someone just died very recently you will be thinking about them, and almost everyone at this party is. the whole situation was very traumatic, and everyone responds to it differently. i dont have a problem with dorothy politely and gently acknowledging that ((and it helping her work through her trauma))
Rainhat
Some people see any occasion where people gather and… stop, basically (stop working or whatever) as a chance to “bring some things up”. Some of these people are well-intentioned. Others are social pursuit-hunters, and will do that at EVERY occasion until stopped.
The Wellerman
Either things are about to get really interesting or this is a god level troll by Willis.
Honestly I’m fine either way. ?
TrueVCU
I mean, remember we’re still in a flashback. I coulda sworn Mike was confirmed stone dead a while ago
True Survivor
Yeah, if Mike turns out to just be in witness protection this whole time, I would laugh really hard. It also would be a very Mike thing to only tell Walky he was alive – knowing he is the one goof-ball no one would believe.
Meagan
I feel like it has been pretty well established in the comments section that Mike’s death is to be taken provisionally, and if it is a fakeout, it might on a loooong. time.
jeffepp
Ixnay on the Itnessway rotectionpay. You don’t know whose listening in…
Retrikaethan
witness protection for what, though? the only people he witnessed committing a crime are dead. like, it would not surprise me if he was still alive having faked his own death but witness protection would very unlikely be one of his ways unless he saw that shitgrill get murdered in the hospital.
jackiedu46k
“Witness protection for what? Nobody was convicted of anything!!”
The Oracle
I do have to wonder how useful Mike’s knowledge would have been against the mob overall. From what we’re told, Blaine was basically the equivalent of a door greeter for them, was he not?
Reltzik
Blaine had a front business that existed for the mob to launder money through it, and Mike got a good look at the receipts back in a flashback strip.
If he remembered all that stuff (which was years ago, but Mike is VERY good at remembering inconvenient facts forever), and Blaine for whatever reason didn’t preempt it by moving things around (which might cause the mob to ask questions and learn that Blaine was clumsy enough to spill their secrets)?
…then Mike could point police to a huge money trail. And also a huge amount of money. Both of which the police would be happy to get their hands on.
keldas
Thing is, witness protection from whom? Blaine and the Thumb are both dead.
Sirksome
It’s not a troll. Mike is dead. Walky just doesn’t know because he’s not close enough to Mike’s family to know. Families don’t normally inform a person’s roommate on their condition. That’s a very low priority call.
Yumi
At least somewhat of a troll if that’s the case, since Walky and a funeral was mentioned.
Otl1973
According to this strip, Walky was at the funeral. (Ok, a little reading between the lines, but Sal wouldn’t offer condolences over Blaine, and starting to quote Walky saying something about the funeral certainly indicates he was there.)
Sirksome
The funeral probably hasn’t happened yet. I’m not super sure on how the timeline shakes out but Amber was informed and this is maybe a day or two after that. Funerals can take weeks to get setup. Even preparing the body for viewing if they chose to do that can take a few days. Walky can still attend the funeral and not know Mike is dead in this moment.
cbwroses
This is supposed to be Halloween, which was a least a week or two after the garbage roof get together.
Also, since Amber seemingly got the news at that get together, it’s really doubtful she wouldn’t tell Walky during this time.
Sirksome
Actually now that you mention it I think that would be incredibly in character for Amber to not tell Walky Mike died. She is not good at sharing important information or being emotionally vulnerable.
Jason
Also Billie said at the beginning of this storyline that Mike was dead. If Billie knows, Walky would know.
Unless there’s another Mike? I think it’s more likely that Walky has just dissociated the fact that Mike is gone.
Tan
The strip Otl1973 was attempting to link to is earlier in this same flashback. It happened already.
Stifyn Baker
Appropriately, that seems to be a dead link.
Username Taken
…You do know that link’s alive, right?
jonathan young
OMG nice one
Username Taken
Thank you lol
Needfuldoer
Which strip? Your link did the thing where it just goes to today’s URL with a double quote at the end.
Laurel Raven
maybe this will work?
Sirksome
Ah! Well than maybe it is a troll.
Call Me Deacon Blues
Well, it’s possible from that reading that maybe they were talking about Blaine’s funeral, not Mike’s. But now I will either need to re-read the last like, year’s worth of comics to see when and where it explicitly says MIke is dead. Or just wait a day or two and see if the next strip makes more sense.
BBCC
I don’t think Amber would be broken up at Blaine’s funeral.
Sarda
That only makes his comment even more confusing, but given that everyone else in the room is awkwardly looking at him as he says that, I doubt they’re under the impression Mike is still alive at this time.
Lily
Doa should end in Halloween 2040 with the last panel being mike’s zombie hand coming out of his tombstone lol
Leadsynth
Oh man, I hope we did get trolled. That would be on-brand for Mike. But most of all, I hope Walky isn’t making a horribly-poor-taste joke right now.
Paradox
I’m not entirely convinced that Booster isn’t just Mike playing some long con/witness protection thing
RedCat
The height matches. I think.
Reltzik
¿Por qué no los dos?
Steve
WHAT
Damn you Willis!
RassilonTDavros
…I’m about to regret voting for Walky in the “best costume” poll, aren’t I.
RassilonTDavros
wait I just realized his helmet’s visor shifted slightly to indicate a facial expression, it’s the best costume again
Laura
What facial expression? I can’t see a thing.
Booyahman
The right side (our right) shifted up to do a kind of -.^ expression, raised eyebrow type beat
Laura
I see it now. Thanks!
True Survivor
No way. Walky is fly tonight – that kind of style is immortal.
Caro
Ah, this is why Amber broke up with him.
Spriteless Aunty