133

B+
Posted on January 3, 2024 by David M Willis

133 thoughts on “B+”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Bad Day Dotty™ is better at Not Taking Your Shit than Good Day Dotty™

    1. anon

      if ethan and asher do hookup, then jen can kiss/screw dorothy, make things even 8D;

    2. Doctor_Who

      See, now I’m picturing a line of Dotty Dolls, like Barbie.

      Naturally there’s also a Presidential Dotty, Exercise Dotty, and In Extreme Denial About Her Feelings For Joyce Dotty (comes with giant horse and no pants!).

    3. Needfuldoer

      Bad Day Dotty comes with hoodie, undereye bags, sweatpants, and existential crisis. Day planner sold separately, batteries not included.

      1. Taellosse

        Now I really want to know what the “existential crisis” accessory looks like!

        Maybe once I know what form they take, I can throw mine away…

  2. Erica

    Off topic question, but these comics used to drop at 12:00, then 12:07, now like 12:15. It’s something off with the server’s clock or something?

    1. EpochFlame

      clock drift or something

      1. nobodybasically

        Weirdly, the comment times are all 10 minutes slow, but that would mean the comic is posting at 12:05 server time.

        1. Cholma

          Yeah, the time drift is getting ridiculous. Who’s in charge of this server? Is it Hiveworks? They need to get their act together. Why don’t they have auto time synchronization enabled?

        2. Cholma

          (I posted this at 12:22 ET, but the post shows 12:11. Pathetic.)

        3. Jamie

          I mean, it doesn’t actually matter. The comics go up around when they’re supposed to and the comments post fine.

        4. clif

          Hey now, we can’t be having people wrong about the time on the Internet.

        5. Cholma

          It probably *doesn’t* matter for us readers, but as someone who works in IT, it’s annoying because some applications won’t work if a server time doesn’t match the user’s computer’s time. (even worse, the error message often doesn’t say the time is the issue; the app just fails to work)

        6. Straximus

          And it’s not like configuring NTP is difficult. It would likely take all of five minutes.

        7. All-Purpose Guru

          The longer the skew gets, the more stuff starts failing until something like server certificates stop working.

        8. Ana Chronistic

          I should introduce you to the chiming clock someone put in at work that randomly goes off-hour and chimes 8 minutes late (and when chiming “on the hour”, it’s either an hour or an hour and 8 minutes late)

        9. Jo_cubstar

          I noticed that as well

    2. Taellosse

      As the forces of entropy push all matter in the universe ever farther apart, gravitational lensing effects distort the very fabric of space-time, causing time-dilation anomalies to become increasingly apparent.

    3. Opus the Poet

      This used to happen only at the switch from Standard to DST and back again, but the last couple of years it happens 01/01 as well.

  3. quark

    does dorothys free day have time allotted for a slap fight

    1. Yumi

      It does if she cancels her afternoon rumination!

      1. Doctor_Who

        She’s booked solid!

    2. anon

      it would count as exercise lol.

      followed by a handwritten note apologizing for her behavior

  4. nobodybasically

    I am honestly surprised no one has punched Billie in the face yet. She has just been actively antagonizing everyone who crosses her path lately.

    1. nobodybasically

      Sorry, Jennifer.

      1. Decidedly Orthogonal

        Ehn. Ms Billingsworth isn’t being dead-named. I’ve mad respect for folks who need to change their name to correctly match their identity. Ms Billingsworth’s antics seem more about trying to outrun her past behaviour/reputation. That is hardly a noble.

        1. Some Ed

          Her name change wasn’t just about trying to outrun her past, but trying to distance herself from friends who aren’t problems to cozy up to people who are. I’m not sure what’s to be respected about that. It’s just sad.

        2. ian livs

          The thing is, as a trans person, I think we have to respect people’s name changes no matter the reasons for them. Even if they’re “stupid” reasons. To me, not doing so feels icky because it sends the message that using somebody’s correct name is a privilege that can be revoked as a punishment. I know Jennifer’s fictional, but this kind of logic gets applied to real people a lot, so I’m leery of it.

        3. Thomas

          Agree. I think – especially within a queer-friendly community – the signal value of respecting preferred names over disavowed names trumps the need to hate on fictional characters. There are other ways to express your disapproval of Jennifer.

        4. Taffy

          I don’t do it to “punish” or “hate on” the character, I just do it because Billie is the name I prefer for the character. She doesn’t have feelings to hurt.

        5. Decidedly Orthogonal

          Also, it’s not a dead-name. It’s a nickname. She was gifted it by Walky. (n.b. Walky’s nickname is similarly structured.) I fully support the trans-community and that’s why I don’t use Ms Billingsworth’s nickname here. But I also reject her pretensions on this, as previously detailed.

    2. anon

      I mean, Ruth technically has? Or other forms of violence. IDK if anyone’s punched “Jennifer” yet

    3. Pylgrim

      Honestly, that might be what she wants, deep inside. Might make her feel anything if only because it will remind her of what Ruth made her feel.

  5. Nono

    Honestly surprised she’s in such a good mood after blowing off Asher and seeing Ruth.

    1. Jeremiah

      Well it wasn’t as much as she blew on Asher as she was dismissive and indifferent to him and she probably fell like she come out on top on her interaction with Ruth.

  6. Tan

    Fuck all the way off, Jennifer.

    1. Yumi

      Actually feel like the Gravatar works here.

      1. Mturtle7

        Jennifer’s self-loathing personified!

  7. StClair

    act with integrity
    no B grades

  8. EpochFlame

    jennifer is being an asshole, but these barbs might inadvertently help dotty

  9. Coatl

    Please, Jennifer, shut up, shut up, shut up now.

  10. DailyBrad

    I know Dorothy’s serious, and even I am kind of stunned, so Jennifer isn’t alone on that front.

  11. Mym

    Weird question…
    Does anyone know if Dorothy is right or left handed? (Perhaps ambidextrous?)

    1. Coatl

      I don’t remember well, but I think she is ambidextrous.

    2. anon

      i feel like this might’ve come up once , (or maybe htat was joyce?) but wouldn’t be surprised if dorothy “trained” herself to be ambi lol

    3. John Campbell

      She’s left-handed.

      1. Yumi

        That’s what she wants you to think, so that you’ll be thrown off during the duel.

        1. Aura

          Now there’s someone who’s certainly studied her Agrippa!

  12. Hazel

    Jennifer is the perfect person for Dorothy to lose her temper with.

    1. DailyBrad

      She is, but we’ve also had that happen already, so I dunno if I necessarily want to see her chew out Jennifer again, like it could be satisfying but I also feel like that’d be a little obvious.

      Weirdly, I feel like we might be angling to see some sort of accord spring up between them re: the Walkerton situation, but I dunno.

  13. Jo_cubstar

    I have to say I’ve been freaking out about the TCAF announcement for like a week now and so excited also that it no longer says that he’s not doing con appearances due to the world ending or whatever it used to say for a few years lol

    1. Yumi

      Yeah, I hope I’m able to go! I made it out there in 2019, it was a cool event.

  14. M!a

    And again, Billifer shows her utter absence of empathy.

    Any further doubt she’s just out to watch things burn today? I hope she sees Sal and gets tossed out a window. Or at least, get called out as fakey by her roomie.

    1. Archieve

      I personally hope Sals somewhere away from all this and Jennifer gets the brunt of Malayas thoughts on being fake concerned anyway. Sal really shouldn’t have to give anymore thoughts to her toxic parents then need be. If Jennifer does have news about the Walkerton parents that’s important she can tell Walky or follow Ruth’s advice on text message.

  15. JA

    You know, I don’t think anyone would’ve been surprised or upset if Dorothy had just up and thrown a haymaker in the last panel.

    1. Coatl

      It’s Jennifer, at this point I think Dorothy is doing us all a huge favor here.

  16. Coatl

    It’s Jennifer, at this point I think Dorothy is doing us all a huge favor here.

  17. Imogen

    I’m sure I’m not the only one excited for this for not-just-Jennifer-destruction-reasons! I feel like we’re about to finally get a glimpse into Jennifer’s mindset here, and maybe get some progression for both of their doomspirals. These are the exact right characters to challenge one another here.

    1. Coatl

      Many have commented that both are opposites of each other… it is possible that this will happen later

    2. DashWallkick

      That’s…actually a really good point, somehow I didn’t think about it but they’re each other’s mirror. Dorothy is rigid self-control that is spiraling as she struggles to figure out how to unclench, Jennifer is a total absence of self-control held back by shame and a need for validation.

  18. Animedingo

    Ok whos worse

    Walkys mom or billie

    1. Jeremiah

      Jennifer at least isn’t an fully grown woman that do this kind of things to her own kids. And you know, isn’t racist.

    2. Imogen

      This feels like a trick question to me. Jennifer is on a very bad patch, but we’ve seen her long enough to know that she can be better. We’ve seen her be kind, we’ve seen her act to protect others, we’ve seen her lost in self-loathing and fear and shame. This is Jennifer in complete free-fall. And even in free-fall, yeah, she’s a thousand times better than that mom.

    3. DailyBrad

      Walky’s Mom like two dozen times over.

    4. Needfuldoer

      Linda, by an order of magnitude.

    5. Devin

      Linda, hands down, 100%

  19. AGV

    Never lose your charm, Jennifer ?

    1. Devin

      She can’t lose it, she knows exactly where it is. Buried way down deep in a locked box.

  20. HueSatLight

    feels like when Walky makes a smartass joke, “he’s just a goofball”, but when Jennifer does it, “she is incapable of empathy”. leave yourselves some room to hate her more when she’s being truly terrible and not just obnoxiously 19

    1. Coatl

      It’s hard to know if she’s really a jerk or not.

      1. Devin

        We’ve seen that she’s fully capable of being kind, but also that’s not mutually exclusive with her being a jerk. She can be both. I don’t think she’s just a jerk though.

        1. Coatl

          I think like Billie, that kindness was more notable.

    2. Dave

      The key difference is that Walky hasn’t abandoned his friends in order to move up the social ladder. We’ve gone from Billie going straight to Walky’s room when she and Ruth were having trouble and her being genuinely thankful to him for helping (and also her anti-snob epiphany right before she barfed in the dining hall and entered a lesbian suicide pact), to Jennifer literally telling Walky “We are not friends” and cutting out anyone she was friendly with during that period from her life. Her barbs at her former friends hit different in that sense!

    3. HueSatLight

      sometimes a dumb joke can lift someone’s mood a little. Jennifer doesn’t know if hers landed or rubbed Dorothy the wrong way. Dorothy’s response could be read either way.

      1. Jeremiah

        I mean, it is kind of important to consider for that reading that Jennifer and Dorothy aren’t really in friendly terms with each other. Even pre time skip they were more neutral acquaintances with friends in common. Then post time skip there was the whole “Getting Joyce to the doctor” things that make Dorothy kind of start dislike her. So yeah, it’s hard to see this as a friendly banter or trying to lift someone mood with a joke. Jennifer can be pretty good in certain context and circumstances but she is also is very capable of the opposite. And we just hass been recently see her not being a very good partner to Asher so that will paint our perception of her actions and words. It’s difficult to tell when she will decide to care and when she will not. (And just to be clear, I love Jennifer, she is one of my favorite characters specifically because how much a human trash fire she is, it’s what maker her interesting. It’s what make all these characters interesting.)

      2. Karadaga

        I don’t know, I feel like you only get to do that when you’re actually friends with the person. In the words of Sarah, a person whose jerkiness I feel is a lot easier to stomach, “Being mean is a perk afforded […] as one of the group”. Jennifer was barely friends with Dorothy before she cut ties entirely with everyone at Read Hall.

        Otherwise, I agree that treating Jennifer like a monster is going too far. I’m just expecting a fall after so much pride.

    4. DailyBrad

      People can be really critical of Walky, too, around here, but yeah, I think Jennifer gets uncharitable takes, certainly. Of course, Walky does tend to do it with people he has more of an acquaintance with, whereas Jennifer’s been an island this semester, so it didn’t come off as nasty prior.

      1. Lailah

        the women in general get uncharitable takes, which is impressive given the cast list.

    5. Tan

      When Walky makes the jokes you’re referring to, it is either an attempt to cheer up the person who is feeling down, or it is a defense mechanism for his own uncomfortableness in a situation he is (or feels) stuck in. Sometimes (often) it is inconsiderate, but it is never malicious.

      Here, Jennifer saw a friend-of-a-friend(-ish) looking unhappy and decided to insert herself into the situation solely for the purpose of tearing her down further. This is plain and simple bullying someone who was just fucking walking and happened to dare to show her emotional state on her face. Fuck everything about Jennifer here.

    6. Some Ed

      I think you’re spot on here. She’s shown she’s capable of empathy. However, when she’s depressed, she acts self-destructively. She uses her empathy to hurt herself by hurting others.

      I feel it’s worth considering that in high school, she was one of the cheerleaders, a group that tends to socially train each other to be horrible to other people (and each other, at least in the case of the cheerleaders I’ve known. It’s not “we’re the best people”, it’s “nobody is good enough to be a cheerleader.” I don’t know if that was just them or if it’s more general. But I thought it was interesting to find out that, inside the locker room, they were basically constantly a social faux pas away from being at each other’s throats, except for periods after someone made one of those, until a dominance order was established again.)

  21. NGPZ

    How about a game if it ain’t to early?

    1. What’s something you like to to when you’ve had a bad day?

    2. Jennifer mentioned cars, what is your favorite kind of race to watch?

    1. clif

      1. Read DOA. Of course that’s also something I like to do when I’ve had a good day.

      2. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Indy 500. It’s not going to happen, but I’m still rooting for AJ Foyt to come out of retirement and win one final time.

    2. KingoHrts

      1. I like to make something useful, like a trivet or a shelf for myself or a friend. A tangible improvement to the world.

      2. Not much for auto racing, even though I have attended an Indy 500. I do like the LeMans start, just because it makes the event more human, but the rest of the race is boring. Been to a couple of Kentucky Derbys and they are fun, but mostly because of the crowd.

    3. morleuca

      1. Often? Just sleep.
      2. The ones on old Top Gear and Grand Tour

      1. NGPZ

        oooo.

        I like Pokemon races. ^^

    4. Devin

      1. Comfort shows (which one depends on what kind of bad, but very often a type of Star Trek)

      2. Jelle’s Marble Runs

    5. Mturtle7

      Watch cartoons and read webcomics, mostly!

  22. Odditude

    I don’t think what she is saying here is that bad (besides the comment on appereance is a bit rude)

    It reminds me of when the comment section was hating on Joe.
    There is legit reasons to hate on Joe, but it also happened in appereances where he objevtively didn’t do anything bad, but the hate train was running.

    1. Odditude

      She also has a bit of Mike in her that she shares uncomfortable truths, particularly been good with it when it comes to racism

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/04-but-dont-give-yourself-away/magicalgoldenchild/

      She just doesn’t have the joy when doing so, like Mike did

    2. DailyBrad

      There’s a certain momentum sometimes behind characters.

      Like, if you go back and look at strips where Danny got shit on in the comment sections, maybe a third of those were instances when he actually did anything, and the rest were often “committed the crime of not being omniscient”, etc. A lot of that was just holdover from Roomies stuff where he was a shittier character, and a lot of it was just some unflattering moments that people had difficulty shaking.

      Nowadays, most people have moved past it since the momentum died down, but you do still get the deeply unfunny “Dannying” mentions people continue to try to make a thing. It’s what it is.

    3. thejeff

      Today seems a lot worse than yesterday, but people were hating on her for yesterday too.

      I also think a lot of people are ignoring (or just not realizing) that this almost certainly reaction to her lunch with Linda and Charles throwing her into a horrible mood. Not fair she’s taking it out on others, but understandable.

      1. Devin

        The problem with that is that we only seem to see her when she’s in a horrible mood lately.

        Of course the problem with that is that she’s clearly in a bad place and in denial about it and needs something to get her out of it. I really super want something to change for her. I think she’s got great potential as a character and I’m kind of tired of her being in this regression rut.

    4. Mturtle7

      Oh thank goodness. I was honestly kind of weirded out when I scrolled down and saw everyone acting like Billie was being actively malicious towards Dorothy, because that’s not how I read this strip AT ALL. This thread just helped reassure me I’m still (relatively) sane.
      To elaborate: That is NOT a mean face in panel 2, it’s just a surprised and concerned face, like one would normally get when an acquaintance who always seems sunny and perfect suddenly shows up looking less than sunny. That just seemed obvious to me when I was first reading this through! Jennifer is being flippant about Dorothy’s problems because literally everyone is usually kind of flippant about Dorothy’s problems (ESPECIALLY Dorothy herself). She’s also being kinda condescending because, well, she’s Jennifer. Assuming she knows what’s best for everyone is kinda her thing, and always has been. But I have absolutely no doubt that she’s genuinely concerned about Dorothy and wants to know what’s up so she can help (or you know, try to help, in her own Billie-tastic way).
      You might be right about people just assuming the worst of Jennifer 100% of the time, like they did with Joe. It still managed to surprise me today, though, somehow.

  23. zims

    I was today years old when I realized Billie was a riff on Billingsworth, not just some random name Walky affixed on her.

    1. DailyBrad

      The wild thing is that she *says* he gave it to her, but in the flashback, we saw she called herself that after another girl was named Jennifer and so Billie grabbed that. Walky then called himself Walky in solidarity when another kid said “Billie” was a stupid name.

      I honestly wonder if Jennifer knows she’s recounting it incorrectly or not, since we do know Walky does not remember the origin, himself, and took her word for it.

      1. JR

        It’s so tragic that we know this backstory and they don’t – that this foundational moment in their relationship was an act of friendship they can’t remember, which Billie miscasts as her own power move rather than Walky’s effort to put them on equal social footing in the brief moment that she was unpopular.

  24. Suet

    I see they’re still testy since they last met

    Who can blame Dorothy for scheduling things in advance though

    1. HueSatLight

      she should tell Jennifer about that one dream she had since then

  25. Carla's #2 Fan

    Pre-diagnosis me (as autistic) would throw people off when I would roll with a joke. They thought I was taking them seriously, but I was just playing around with the mini alternative universe they had created.

    1. Masumi

      Haha for me both can happen. I still along with a joke, or I’m honestly not getting it. And people always guess the wrong one, I keep getting my own jokes explained to me ><

    2. anon

      i guess it depends on the tone. Or maybe they were trying to provoke and ‘irritated’ reply outta you. tho some ppl don’t like it when sarcasm is thrown back at them for some reason lol

  26. Amós Batista

    I can relate to Dorothy: 2 hours in gym can fucking tire you.

  27. darkoneko

    Shut up and walk away, ’jennie’

  28. Kim

    Jennifer: Great hair, Bad attitude,

    (Badtitude!)

  29. Thomas

    Jennifer gets a B+ for being a bongo.

  30. Reltzik

    Jeez, Jennifer, are you blind? It’s a B- hanging over Dorothy’s head, plain as day, in Panel 1.

    (I don’t know what Clark means in grading terms, but the B- I’m clear on.)

    1. Daibhid C

      A B-Clark is when you get a B- but on purpose so nobody suspects you have super-intelligence and super-eidectic memory, and had advanced science and the complete history of Earth implanted in your head by a hologram of your alien father before your rocketship even landed on Earth.

  31. Rabisch

    Billie used to be a bully and Jennifer is continuing that tradition. She just use words and not physical strength. Seriously annoying! Poor Dorothy, her day is going worse and worse.

  32. Steamweed

    “You would know that, if you had responded to my Google Calendar invite.”

    1. Mturtle7

      Canon

  33. Alaric

    She actually has today marked off as “play along with people’s barbs day”.

  34. Yeet

    Jennifer if you want Dorothy to yell at you again you’re going to have to try harder than that

    1. Jeremiah

      Oh yeah, you she did say she found Dorothy getting actually mad was kind of hot didn’t she?

      1. Yeet

        I can only assume this is why the needling, like she did with Ruth a minute ago.
        She seems more dismissive when she actually wants people to fuck off. Or more batshit fucking pissed when they’re Walky.

  35. thumb

    Honestly, same

  36. milu

    Billingsworth is adorable and we all love her. happy new year, comment section! <3

    1. HueSatLight

      happy new year!

  37. Vulcanodon

    Lisa Simpson goes to college…

  38. poyo

    i think jennifer is genuinely the one character i don’t like lol

    1. Crow

      Jennifer is hot and I think it’s cool when she’s mean

      1. poyo

        can’t relate, my parents loved me (im sorry im sorry its a joke im sure your parents are lovely !!!!!!)

        1. Crow

          Yeah, they’re okay 🙂

    2. june gloom

      I dunno I can think of several others who are worse, and that’s not even counting the dead ones.

      Like Mary. Or Joyce’s mom.

    3. anon

      she’s def entertaining as a fictional chara but irl i’d want a restraining order lol

      and yeah mary is bad but in a wildly cartoony way that it’s hard to take seriously

      1. poyo

        i guess i meant more like main cast characters (i completely forgot mary exists if im being honest lol)

      2. Crow

        I wish Mary was a more nuanced character and not just the personification of evil conservative Christianity because I think she could be an interesting character if she was written like a person

  39. C.T. Phipps

    Jennifer was ignored by her father growing up but to be fair, that was because he was building that nice farm upstate to send all the homeless people.

  40. HueSatLight

    Sometimes, when I’m not sure I’m reading Jennifer correctly, I compare the comments to when I know she’s doing something completely benign. That’s how I can tell she’s never done anything wrong.

    1. milu

      Every once in a while i remind myself that every single person in this comment section is out of their goddamn mind. Its such a peaceful, relaxing thought

  41. Rikunda

    Do you think Jennifer knows she comes off as an asshole or is that a surprise for her still?

    1. anon

      Well, she does call herself head “bongo” in charge or implied or or so, or used that phrase with joyce who wouldn’t repeat it lol

  42. Lingo

    Okay, I’m with Jennifer on this one: I honestly can’t tell if Dorothy is being serious or not.

    1. anon

      i mean she does schedule most things, tho i mean planning a panic attack ahead of time would def get some things outta the way

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