215

Blows
Posted on February 1, 2019 by David M Willis

215 thoughts on “Blows”

  1. AnvilPro

    Wait what? Joe what happened? I thought you was being cool

    1. Doctor_Who

      He fell of the wagon and into Malaya.

    2. Wraithy2773

      Note the five o’ clock shadow. Shit’s more complicated than what appears, give it time to develop.

      1. Tacos

        He’s had that for ages now. It’s part of his default look now.

        1. Wraithy2773

          Ah, true. It’s the hair, his hair is usually much neater and well groomed, not the “just rolled out of bed” look he’s gog going on now.

        2. Wraithy2773

          …got going on now. Derp.

    3. Clif

      There seems to be a lot of feeling that Joe has regressed. Maybe so, but it’s also possible that he has actually learned something, moderated some of his worse behavior, but despite this is still Joe.

      1. Unusually Angry Hippie

        Which is how actual change takes place. Just because some people might consider some of someone’s behavior ‘problematic’, if there’s no actual harm being done, it all comes down to personal taste.

        Joe’s personal tastes may be distasteful, but he’s still the same person he was six months ago, and has received some validation that there are people out there who don’t mind who he chooses to be. Anyone who expected him to suddenly get ‘woke’ apparently don’t understand people very well.

        1. Chris Phoenix

          I agree Joe has reasons not to change much. But can I suggest that some kinds of problematic behavior constitute actual harm even if no one is held accountable for them?

        2. Unusually Angry Hippie

          I’m guessing your referring to affects to mental health as harm, but that’s a dangerous supposition, because noone is responsible for how other people feel, and it’s impossible to please everyone. Harassment and bullying is one thing, the targeting of specific individuals with malicious intent, but that’s not really what’s being displayed here.

          There are people who’s mental health is negatively affected by exposure to things they find distasteful, but others don’t. Imagine a devout christian who suffers anxiety and depression because in their eyes, the people around them are going to hell. But you wouldn’t suggest that people should modify their behavior to spare that persons feelings. How is this any different?

        3. BBCC

          Because Joe regularly goes around treating women like objects and like his dick is all that matters. I’d put that in the past tense but it doesn’t look like he’s quite past that yet. That is wrong and yeah, Joe should knock it the hell off.

        4. BBCC

          Like, to use your example, no, people don’t have to radically alter their lives for a (imo misplaced) belief they’re going to hell. However, if said Christian starts spewing a litany of homophobia, transphobia and antisemitism, I’d have no problem telling them to shut their trap on the basis of them doing harm.

      2. Author X

        Undertale Narrator voice
        * Despite everything, it’s still Joe

  2. Yotomoe

    Thank you, Joe.

  3. Ana Chronistic

    Joe’s all about checking out birds

    1. Doctor_Who

      He’s a regular hornithologist.

      1. Jojo42

        In his case, I think that’s spelled with a ‘y’….

        1. Pablo360

          Yornithologist

        2. Felix

          Well done. Bravo. *applauses*

    2. Plasma Mongoose

      But boobies are far more interesting… (they got blue feet for a start)

      1. butting

        Oh, he definitely likes boobies, but he’s really hoping for a shag.

        1. Yotomoe

          He also seems really eager to see a swallow.

        2. FacelessDeviant

          I hear he’s also into farmbirds. He likes to introduce his cock to chicks.

        3. Darchosis

          Ladies and Gentlemen! Introducing, the Birds of Innuendo!

      2. McBogue

        Hey, check out this pair of tits…

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          It would be illegal to show small tits like those in porn in Australia.

        2. Ethics Gradient

          Those aren’t Tits. THESE are tits 🙂

      3. Ethics Gradient

        Great Tits, Small Tits, any kind of Tit.

      4. Lokitsu

        The other day Joe spied a really beautiful pair of Great Tits.

        1. King Daniel

          Must have been a vagrant – they don’t occur naturally outside of Eurasia and part of northwestern Africa.

    3. Marsh Maryrose

      I am reminded of a story from the early days of the internet.

      On a general-interest listserv I was on, there was a woman who was from Estonia. Her English grammar was as good or better than that of most native speakers, but it was all textbook English, and idioms and slang tended to take her by surprise, which she handled with good grace and humor.

      So one day, she posted this: “It’s a beautiful spring day here! All the tits are singing!”

      And some wag replied, “If you think I’m going to touch ‘singing tits’ — no, wait, cancel that.”

  4. Spruce Goose

    Oh Joe we were making such good progress too

  5. BBCC

    Oh god, he’s back to pre-list douchery.

    That noise I just made was somewhere between an angry cat hissing and a garbage disposal with a spork in it.

    1. BBCC

      And oh, Dorothy, you and Walky both have NO IDEA.

      I mean, really, they don’t know about the incident they each refer to.

      1. King Daniel

        Wasn’t her fight with Sal last night one of the things Amber told Walky about?

        1. laladoria

          As far as I remember, she only told him about the hand stabbing. I could be wrong…

        2. laladoria

          Nope! You were right.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/02-but-the-sun-still-shines/bark/

        3. BBCC

          You are correct and I just went back to check. My bad!

    2. John

      So like a metal rattlesnake?

    3. Geeky Warrior

      Even worse, he’s falling further. His facial expression and third person references reek awfully of Faz

  6. William Leonard Reese Jr.

    . . . .Alright. . . Who has Joe been hanging with if he is regressing like this? Last I saw he was just having sex with . . .Malaya? I think?

    1. BBCC

      I was afraid of this. I’m pretty sure he took Malaya sleeping with him after having seen the list as validation.

      I love Malaya, but I’m pretty sure this requires someone (NOT Sal) to throw her out the window.

      1. DailyBrad

        I think it may be less validation and more “I’m a piece of shit, I guess.” relapse mode. I’m not personally *calling* him that, but that’s how it feels when you fall off the wagon after trying to avoid a behavior, etc. I want him to understand there’s a middle ground between monk and boy-toy.

        They say that using again is the end of a relapse, not the beginning, but it’s still a very defeating feeling.

        1. Yotomoe

          It’s like when you’re trying to quit drinking. But because you were a drunk all your life everyone still treats you like a drunk. And eventually you say “Fuck it. If that’s all I will be to these people I may as well just give in, because trying to change is harder than just giving up and no one seems to care either way.”

        2. DailyBrad

          Exactly. I don’t think he took failing well, especially because he did it in part to get away from a situation instead of facing it head on.

          You know… it just occurred to me, he has no idea if Joyce has given up on going after Duncan. Maybe… Maybe that’s why he is being like this? We’ve already seen that he’s developed a pretty complex relationship with Joyce, and he bolted with Malaya when Joyce was confronting him on statements that’d imply a lasting attraction to her, like the “zero” on the scale due to her “hurting” him in her words, saying that she CAN get Jacob, etc.

        3. Zee

          Off topic but… Duncan?

        4. Deanatay

          I think he means Jacob.

        5. DailyBrad

          Oops, I meant Jacob. For some reason, I always think of him as “Duncan” and I have no earthly idea why.

        6. Delicious Taffy

          That kind of thing can be really discouraging, if you’re making an honest effort to change. Sometimes, it can be easier to just burn bridges and move away from certain people, and be your newer self with a completely new social circle who don’t have years of your worse behavior tainting their view of your every action.

          Uh, not that I would know. From, like, personal experience. Or anything.

        7. Diner Kinetic

          I think this is worse than just a relapse- like, his shirts used to be subtle, back in the day, with like “Dig It?” and a picture of a bone. Now he’s almost playing up that aspect of his persona as if to make some kind of statement to the world and himself (and maybe joyce because of all the tension there)

        8. DailyBrad

          Yeah, he is leaning into it. I don’t think that whole episode between “Toebreaker”, the List, caving to Malaya to run away from a real talk with Malaya and shirking watching Faz, etc, was good for his esteem. Which, on one hand could be good if he used it to push off of and improve, but he’s giving in.

        9. BarerMender

          As I recall, he didn’t run away from a talk with Malaya. Malaya was done with him and shot him out the door carrying his clothes.

        10. Needfuldoer

          I think DailyBrad meant caving to Malaya to ignore a real talk with Joyce.

        11. DailyBrad

          Yep, she arrived and was an out for him. Not that he wouldn’t have wanted the sex, anyway, but it was also his escape pod.

        12. BBCC

          This makes a certain amount of sense, but I still suspect he’ll, at least outwardly, use Malaya as a justification at some point (i.e. ‘Look, this girl is okay with it, so it’s totally fine for me to act this way!’)

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        Validation as in for parking?

        1. Yotomoe

          Does that validation include parking in the rear
          Sorry I couldn’t help it.

      3. BBCC

        Honestly, after sleeping on this, this comment wasn’t fair. Even if Joe got that sense of validation from Malaya (or if he decided after that encounter that he couldn’t change and was stuck this way for good) that’s not on Malaya.

        So if anything, Joe should get chucked out the window (and someone needs to tell Malaya that the list was super gross since iirc she was positive about it.)

    2. laladoria

      That’s all it takes… Even Sarah asked if he “learned his lesson” because “interacting with her always ends in learning some kind of lesson.”

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/lesson/

    3. Yotomoe

      Turns out character development is one of the main components of orgasms. Unfortunately Joe released all of his. Probably several times.

  7. Alan

    Wow I can’t remember the last time we saw Joe.

    It’s probably embarrassingly recent, but I don’t remember it 😛

    1. Needfuldoer

      According to his tag, the last time he appeared in person was April 21st, during “Faz is Great”. That was Tuesday, October 12th in-comic, and ‘today’ is Friday the 15th.

      1. thejeff

        For context, that was him leaving Malaya’s room, after their Slipshine.

  8. butts

    Joe 2: Joe Harder

    1. Shiro

      No, please Joe less

  9. newllend(henryvolt)

    Oh hey look Johny Bravo’s back.

  10. meep

    Old Habits die hard.

  11. Stephen Bierce

    Today’s strip is sponsored by the HSBC USA Sevens Rugby tournament, the first weekend in March in Las Vegas. Buy Tickets Now.

    I’m sure a lot of people would tell Joe to “go ruck yourself”.

    1. Stephen Bierce

      What The Ruck

      1. Greebs

        He is acting like a bit of a Scrumbag…

  12. Shiro

    Welp, I fear we’ve learned precisely nothing but hopefully the one-strip-a-day format is about to prove me wrong

  13. regina phalange

    I mean, Dorothy’s right, but weird thing to say to a person, especially phrased that way–almost like she’s dictating how Walky should feel. I mean, it IS how he feels, and he clearly agrees, but this is the first time I’ve felt like Dorothy said something exactly the wrong way.

    1. DailyBrad

      Dorothy can be difficult to read sometimes. She is usually really pleasant, but sometimes, she will say something like this and it reads really patronizing.

    2. Yotomoe

      Dotty’s always had this air about her. Not quite condescending, but in such a way where I feel like she didn’t quite see Walky as an equal. Which fed into Walky’s own insecurity. She kinda dotes over him like a mom or a babysitter.

      1. DailyBrad

        I wonder a little how much of it is a learned behavior, or if it plays into the kinds of guys she is attracted to. Danny hardly ever asserted himself before college, and has learned to stand up for himself more.

        Walky, similar story, though Walky’s situation is kinda different. He seems almost like he’s afraid to have ambition sometimes.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        I see Dorothy as a mostly open and honest person whose first instinct is to tell the truth as she sees it, and that’s sometimes not such a good idea? And she maybe knows that intellectually, but can’t always apply that knowledge in real-time?

        The truth is, when it comes to maturity, Walky really isn’t her equal. And that’s not necessarily something she admits to herself, but it comes out anyway when she talks to him, and she ends up sounding patronizing because she is being patronizing, even though she doesn’t intend to be.

    3. Kittie

      She’s trying to acknowledge/validate his feelings. That’s what common advice says you’re supposed to do when someone confides in you, and because Dorothy tends to approach socialization in a by-the-book kind of way, it comes out as a bit stiff.

      1. Fart Captor

        Yeah, she’s not in any way telling him how he feels. She’s describing how SHE would feel, because she thinks it’s how he feels and wants him to know she understands

        1. Emily

          And based on what we’ve seen it IS how he feels.

  14. Yotomoe

    https://imgur.com/a/uZL7jhr
    Drew this for Butts

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Butts disease strikes again.

      1. Clif

        We should thank Butts for whatever he did to deserve this,

    2. DailyBrad

      Are those motion lines? I guess Amber’s entitled a victory dance now and again.

    3. Bagge

      And what a GREAT butt it is

    4. JessWitt

      Glutes to the maximus.

  15. MatthewTheLucky

    Dammit Walky, you should not be justifying this to her!
    Dammit Dorothy, you made it worse!
    Dammit Joe, you were almost a person!
    Dammit Joyce, you haven’t done anything wrong today but you still need to atone for all the meddling earlier and at the start of the scene!

    1. Diner Kinetic

      Dammit of Age?

      1. Jess

        Checks out.

      2. JessWitt

        The original title but web advertisers were hesitant.

    2. newllend(henryvolt)

      ?………Maybe she wants to make it worse?

    3. Clif

      Dammit Joyce, stop thinking about a certain video.

  16. Vee

    JOE JOE JOE JOE JOE

  17. Deadjolras

    Listen, I know there are like five panels of characters interacting before this, but oh my god, it’s Joe! We haven’t seen him since last April and now look at his hair! Look at that ridiculous, horrible shirt! His hair! Look at Joyce in the very last panel! Look at their height difference! GAZE UPON THEM AND WEEP.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

  18. mrnoidea

    joe

    bruh

    you forgot to shave

    and also you’re being a dick (but what else is new?)

    1. Kamino Neko

      There was a new, not-dick Joe for a while. Not sure why he returned it. It was quite nice.

      1. Unusually Angry Hippie

        Because Joe is still Joe. A little bit of perspective isn’t really going to change the core he’s build his personality around.

        1. thejeff

          Not quickly and easily.
          He will change though. Learning your “core” is damaging, when you expressly built it to keep from hurting people is going to lead to changes.

          And the Malaya thing wasn’t actually as satisfying as he’d hoped. Joe wants more, but he’s more convinced than ever that he’s dangerous, so he’s reverting.

  19. Tan

    Joe, no

  20. DailyBrad

    I was eagerly awaiting Joe and Joyce’s next talk, but uhhh, this is going to hurt, innit?

  21. Reltzik

    Also, Joe, this isn’t dressing for the job you want. Nor is “tits inspector” a job at all. That job is called breast cancer screener.

    …. actually, that’s more a task than a job. The job’s called doctor or nurse. Either way, you should be wearing a lab coat or scrubs and you aren’t allowed to fuck your clientele.

    …. oh, wait, that’s STILL not the job you want.

    1. Deadjolras

      He obviously wants to be a great ornithologist one day.

    2. DailyBrad

      You know, has Joe ever said his major or like career path on here? I thiiiink his dad’s a doctor or something, I know he’s apparently pretty well off.

      I know Sarah’s aiming to be a lawyer, but I am not sure how many of the rest have stated end-goals.

      1. Deadjolras

        For what it’s worth, the Walkypedia lists Joe’s major as “undeclared”.

      2. BBCC

        *rolls out my obsessive list of DoA majors*

        Joyce is in Elementary education (which also used to be Becky’s major at Anderson).

        Dorothy is in Political Science and wants to go to law school (her book bio lists her as pre-law, which as Jacob explained isn’t so much a major as a goal).

        Walky is in Telecommunications (for now, until Mother Dearest meddles).

        Billie is in Journalism (which isn’t what her new friends pictured)

        Amber is in Computer Science. So is Danny (and Rachel for what it’s worth).

        Dina is in Biology.

        Sarah is in Pre-law. So are Jacob and Raidah.

        Sal and Ethan are undeclared like Joe, although Ethan’s interested in English.

        Ruth is in English.

        Mike is in Social Work (which is the most horrifying concept I’ve ever heard and I would like to fight whatever admissions officer accepted him to the program).

        Roz is in Gender Studies.

        Carla is in Engineering – specifically Computer Engineering, but damned if I remember exactly what the major is called.

        Mary is in Art education over at the art school.

        Jason is in Math. So is Penny.

        No word on Malaya or Lucy and Marcie isn’t a student.

        1. BBCC

          And yes, Joe’s father is an osteologist.

        2. AntJ

          Actually, Mike could be a really good social worker. He identified an abusive situation easily and took action to stop it. He has outstanding people skills and hates monsters like Blaine. If his goal isn’t nefarious, he could be extremely helpful.

          Although he should start acting less like a sociopath.

        3. Clif

          Mike is complex. Also very simple.

          The main thing you need to know is that he had sex with your mom.

          For a nickel.

        4. BBCC

          Considering Mike’s track record with the people around him, I’m gonna say ‘No’. The only time he’s nice to them is when he gets to be a dick to someone else – even with Blaine, he never actually did the thing that would stop him definitively (reporting him to the police). He used it as blackmail to…isolate him and Amber in a car for a few hours. I’m not gonna say Mini-Mike did that to intentionally make things worse – there’s no way he could’ve possibly known about the robbery – but Mike’s not got near as good a handle on people as he thinks he does and with most people he’s actively malicious. I do not want him anywhere near a position of care over vulnerable people.

        5. Marsh Maryrose

          Asked if Carla is Computer Science, or Engineering, Willis replied:

          “Carla’s the wind, baby”.

          IU Bloomington only has a department of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering — which, from what I can tell in a cursory glance, concentrates mostly on the software side of Computer Science/Computer Engineering/Data Engineering. If you want to get a degree in building bridges or robots or power grids, you’ve got to go elsewhere in the IU system.

        6. Marsh Maryrose

          Also, IU Bloomington offers both a B.A in Computer Science, administered through the College of Arts & Sciences, and a B.S in Computer Science, which is close to what we would think of as an engineering degree. (And it’s the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, not a department — my bad.)

          Judging from the classes that they are in, it seems like Danny and Amber are more likely to be in the B.A. track rather than the B.S. track (which I assume Carla and Rachel are in).

        7. Clif

          My assumption is that Carla already has the engineering skills down cold and is really just there to pick up a degree, so she takes random things like art class that can round her background out.

        8. BBCC

          I just went back on tumblr to check and this is what Willis says Carla is majoring in. It’s in the school of Engineering: https://www.engineering.indiana.edu

        9. Liquid Len

          Interesting list of majors – I mean I see how it works for Carla, but (as an engineer myself) I was expecting a list of majors a bit more like this: http://eng.rpi.edu/academics

        10. BBCC

          Well, it’s a computer school as well, so I don’t think it’s too unusual that it’s computer focused.

        11. Marsh Maryrose

          Apparently there was quite a bit of bureaucratic knife-fighting behind the setting up of the program at Bloomington.

        12. BBCC

          Huh. Neat.

        13. Marsh Maryrose

          To give it its full name, it’s the School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering. In my best Dr. McCoy voice I say, “It’s engineering, Jim, but not as we know it.”

        14. Alanari

          Malaya has the same drawing class as Mary, so probably something art-related. It didn’t look like she was doing it for fun

        15. BBCC

          Patreon strips had her talking about it. It’s an elective apparently.

        16. JBento

          I have a question: Book 2 states Mike is in Computer Science, at least my copy of it. Where did you get the Social Worker thing from?

          I’ll be away from the computer for the rest of the day, so if you answer and I don’t answer back, that’s why.

        17. BBCC

          Willis said it on tumblr and that the computer science thing was an error.

    3. Shiro

      Also, patients would be massively put off by the everything, not to mention he’d be basically a walking workplace sexual harassment suit that no hospital would touch

      1. thejeff

        You’d think.
        But it happens.

        He’d need to get a little less public about it, but that could come with age.

        OTOH – for Joe it’s mostly public performance. Unlike most who present that way, I suspect he’s actually safer in private. Not that any woman casually interacting with him would have any reason to know that.

  22. Cholma

    “You’re a louse, Joe Rosenthal.”
    [signed] R.Dorothy Wainwright

    1. J

      BIIIIG JOE! IT’S SHOWTIME!

  23. Yotomoe

    What we don’t know is that Joe has decided to actually go into the medical field and the shirt shows his desire for doing medically instituted regular breast checks to prevent further health problems.

    1. AntJ

      Like Otter at the end of Animal House?

  24. Tacos

    Welp there goes all that progress Joe was making…

  25. Vukodlak

    *sigh* Joe try as you might you’ll never be as successful with wooing the ladies as Walky….

    1. Yotomoe

      He simply doesn’t eat enough Mcnuggets.

      1. JessWitt

        Or Taco Bell.

  26. Archivist

    Okay I’m digging this Joe hair.

    1. Shiro

      The hair is the only thing okay about him today

  27. Koms

    Oh noe Joe ?‍♀️

    1. 0kami

      Whatta ya know…

  28. ADLegend21

    just as a feared, Joe’s self-loathing and self-esteem issues have been swept under the rug and he’s back for off-color comedy. Yay. =/

    1. DailyBrad

      I don’t think this is Joe exactly living his best life so much as “this is all I am to people, anyway, so…”, I’m thinking this is going to be a return to that when someone who knows he’s better than that calls him out in a way he can’t brush off.

      Thinking it’ll be Joyce, since Danny and to an extent Dorothy care about him and know he’s deeper than that, but I also don’t know if those two would challenge him on it right now.

    2. thejeff

      No, I don’t think so.

      This is Joe falling off the wagon, which isn’t the same thing. He said as much when he went off with Malaya – “Lasted longer than I expected.”

      The self-loathing is still there. He’s just put the mask back on. Not surprising, really. Change is hard and rarely happens all at once without backsliding.

  29. mrj

    The panel break to visually split up Joe and Joyce is on point.

  30. foducool

    dammit Maui, not now!

    1. DailyBrad

      “What can I say, except, you’re bangin’?”

  31. Teddae

    God DAMMIT joe

  32. Bagge

    I love how Dorothy keep breaking peoples script by agreeing with them.

    “WE WERE NOT GOING TO BE A THING.”
    “OK, that makes sense.”
    “Doe… does it?”

    1. Bagge

      Compare and contrast
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-9-comic/01-flyin-to-the-red/grants/

  33. Badgermole

    Walky you lying liar.
    Dorothy your ulterior motive is showing.
    Joe you inspire both disgust and pity.
    Joyce you’re thinking about the porno tape aren’t you.

    1. Clif

      I agree on Joyce, so that’s one out of four.

      1. Badgermole

        “Amber and I talked” is a lie by omission, he obviously doesn’t want Dorothy to know they were already hooking up.

        1. Clif

          Amber and he talked. If lying by omission is a real thing, there is a whole lot of mathematics, physics, history and who knows what all that you are lying about. It’s possible to intentionally mislead by selecting your facts (see any legitimate news agency ever), but Walky isn’t withholding anything that’s any of her business.

  34. Mr. Random

    Wouldn’t a Mammographer or an Oncologist still wear scrubs, or at least a lab coat?

  35. chris73

    Yes! The best character has returned and while to some it may look like he’s regressed I’m sure by the end of the chapter he’ll be back on course. Maybe.

    1. Poofdepoof

      I do enjoy reading about Joe… He’s so insightful sometimes

      1. chris73

        Hes certainly the character I can most easily relate to with, surprisingly, Danny in a respectable 2nd place

  36. BarerMender

    Why do I get the feeling Dorothy is trying to push Walky and Amber together? By making him think it through?

    1. Needfuldoer

      Maybe she thinks it will be easier for her to let go if she sees him move on?

      1. Clif

        Walky was always an expendable and temporary distraction for Dorothy, even if she came to care about him. It’s perfectly plausible that she may ship him and Amber as much as some of us do. She has an emotional connection to Amber, who probably saved her life, and she knows Walky pretty well, so this might in fact be her way of making him pause and think, and not just react.

        1. Megz

          This is a lot more thought put into this theory then I think Dorothy is actually capable of in this instance. She’s a smart girl but she’s also shown that she isn’t interested in romance-based shenanigans (note: the Joyce/Jacob thing). I think she actually doesn’t want Walky to get with Amber based on the moral implications it would have with his relationship with his sister.

          Dorothy is very much the kind of person who doesn’t want the people she knows to dip into relationship “grey areas” and do the “right thing”. The “right thing” Dorothy is implying in this case is “don’t date this girl because your sister and her fought”. Walky wants to be a good brother but he should give up on something that makes him happy to please others. Which, BTW, his sister seemed cool with him and Amber being together if her comment about Walky coming to support her had anything to say about it.

          TTDR: Dorothy’s attempt at keeping her friends from doing “not great” things is why she wouldn’t play mind games herself.

        2. thejeff

          But at the same time, she didn’t say this until Walky said they weren’t going to be a thing. I don’t actually think she was trying to manipulate them into not getting together. She’s trying to validate what she assumes are his reasons for getting together.

          She’s also probably bending over backwards to keep her own feelings for him out of the equation.

  37. Lingo

    Way to walk into your GENDER STUDIES CLASS, Joe.

  38. Lawzlo

    So, for whatever reason, the hovertext frequently doesn’t appear when I hold my cursor over the strip, so I’m in the habit of right-clicking, and using the “inspect” option to see it. This has never felt dirty before.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      Also, the plural on Joe’s shirt bothers me? If your job was “jet engine inspector,” you wouldn’t call yourself a “jet engines inspector” even if your job involves inspecting multiple jet engines.

      1. Clif

        Well, but if the jet engines almost always came in pairs and your job was always to inspect both of them, then your usage might legitimately differ.

      2. ValdVin

        I’m with you on Team Singular here.

        After all, the FBI badge stands for Federal Boobie Inspector, not Boobies.

  39. abysswatcher1993

    Joe could work as a plastic surgeon and see a lot of boobs.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      I don’t think he’ll like being around for the operations and seeing the mashed-up hamburger titties part, though.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        I kinda regret saying that. Sometimes, my mind goes to weird places and I just post nonsense without thinking about how it sounds.

    2. Agemegos

      These jobs never turn out to be what we imagine.

      My nephew Joe is a plastic surgeon. He mostly fixes mangled hands, feet, and faces after transport accidents, fights, and cancer surgery.

      1. Roborat

        I used to be big into building plastic car models, to the point that I was chopping them apart and using parts from different kits to get the particular version of a vehicle I wanted. So in a way I could call myself a plastic surgeon.

  40. Josh Spicer

    Joe, please come back. But, you know…stop being the old you.

    And talk to Joyce you ass.

  41. Keulen

    I’m gonna wait a strip or two and see if Joe’s actually regressed or not. Looks like he might have, but looks can be deceiving.

  42. BenRG

    Something tells me that, after she gets over the shock of the sheer implausibility of these events, Joyce will probably have some harsh words for Joe, who seems to have had a serious behavioural reversal.

    Meanwhile, the greatest hope for the Amber/Walky relationship is now some bizarre reflexive oppositional response on Walky’s part to prove that Dorothy is wrong and they can’t agree on anything!

  43. Jay

    *mashes Dorothy and Walky dolls together* Now kiss and make up god dammit, ya’ll are good for each other.

  44. stoodmuffin

    I. Dorothy seems to be doing slightly better than she was. And, uh. I’m digging her shaggier doo.

    Joe, REALLY? HAVE YOU LEARNED NOTHING

    1. BenRG

      Personally, I blame Malaya to a certain degree. I don’t blame her entirely because, ultimately, she was only the trigger. In essence, I think that his self-control failed him and now he’s convinced himself that he’s a hopeless case. I wonder if he’s going to be a self-parody for a while as, for the first time, he’s trying to act the part rather than just have a bad attitude to women and relationships.

  45. JessWitt

    Two steps forward, one step back.

    But in Joe’s case he took two steps and then fell back down a whole flight of stairs.

  46. smarties

    It’s nice to see the old Dorothy back. She’s one of the most likable characters in the comic and she’s been sort of absent lately. It seems like she is doing well though and that’s cool.

    Old Joe is back too I guess.

  47. GLOSS

    Joe: DID SOMEONE SAY NIP!?!

    1. Delicious Taffy

      It’s a college campus. I really doubt anyone is saying WWII racial slurs.

      1. JBento

        I think GLOSS was referring to “nip” as a short for nipple? That’s where my mind went when Ir ead the comment, anyway

  48. Lone Duck

    I’m sure Joe will be all “Tits are little birds, see? What, Dina can like dinosaurs, but I can’t like birds?”

    1. BenRG

      No… No, that doesn’t sound like Joe at all but we will have to see.

      1. Bagge

        Yeah, he’s not exactly subtle in telegraphing his interests.

        1. thejeff

          But it is a nice callback to her differing interpretation of the “I dig bones” shirt.

  49. avistel

    well as long as it’s consensual and he has his titspector credentials and such

  50. Ethics Gradient

    BOO! HISS!

  51. Megz

    So it looks like Walky might be rethinking the whole “breaking up with Amber” thing. Those are definitely “you’re not the boss me” eyes he’s flashing which can potentially lead him to really thinking about whether or not HE wants to break up with Amber. Not for his sister and not to agree with Dorothy. His thoughts, his feels.

  52. JBento

    Next time you might want to install safety railings on that wagon, Joe.

  53. Classic Appa

    Well, if Joe’s goal is to get right back to his sex sabbatical, that’s probably the best shirt to be wearing.

  54. Whaatt

    Anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?

    … DOROTHY WANTS WALKY BACK!!

    … and I have to say I’m not exactly pleased.

    1. Daibhid C

      I’d say that this doesn’t suggest that at all, but then, I argued against people who thought Lucy was attracted to Walky because she asked how his relationship was going, and look how that turned out. It’s entirely possible that I don’t completely understand this stuff.

    2. thejeff

      It’s not that long ago she clearly did. They didn’t break up because she wasn’t into him anymore.
      There’s little to no reason to think she doesn’t still want him.
      I don’t think she’s going to act on it though. At least at this point. The reasons she broke up with him are still there. Assuming she has the self-control not to make a play for him – which breaking up so publicly probably helps with.

  55. Cmd1095

    Ugh… Joe… I was holding out hope for you, I really was. I didn’t blame you for banging Malaya, after all, it was consensual sex with an attractive girl who literally came to you asking for it. I was hoping you’d view it as a one time thing and treat it as such, and go back to your climbing out of the pit of toxic masculinity and stuff…

    Apparently I was far too optimistic

    1. thejeff

      He didn’t see it that way.
      He told us that when he went with her: “Lasted longer than I expected.”

      He’ll try again, but it’s a big change and backsliding is expected.

      1. Emily

        Treating women with basic dignity is not actually that big of a change from Joe’s starting point. He’s an idiot dudebro that needs to get over himself and realize his dick isn’t the center of the universe not a violent misogynist.

        1. thejeff

          Joe’s more complicated than that as we learned earlier in his arc.
          He’s not just a dudebro. That’s the image he projects so he doesn’t make emotional connections and hurt women like his dad did.

          What he realized is that he hurt them anyway, even with his approach, but that didn’t reassure him that he could safely interact with girls emotionally.

        2. Emily

          That just means the low standards you’re holding him to are even more unjustified because he should fucking know better now if he’s so self-aware. Backsliding into a harmful facade is a lot less understandable than backsliding into actual ingrained behaviour patterns.

        3. thejeff

          I don’t think I’m holding him to low standards. I think this is crappy as hell.
          I’m just not surprised by it and speculating as to why he’s doing it, since it’s pretty clear there’s a character growth arc here, not just reversion to his old self as if nothing had happened.

  56. Gus Snarp

    On the off chance that you read this, to MinzokuLeo and Panbiscuit on Pokemon Go!, I’m going to level up our friendship in about an hour. !2:00 noon US. Eastern Time, 5:00p.m. UTC, Friday, Feb. 1st.

  57. Rosstifer

    Fucking deck him Joyce.

    1. chris73

      Why?

      1. Rosstifer

        That t-shirt is gross, and Joyce is likely the only character who can really get through to Joe. Something as blunt as a punch to the face may make him realise how much of a dick he’s being.

        1. chris73

          So punching people is the first and best solution is it. Joyce had already punched Joe because of his behaviour and it didn’t work (by working I mean change his behaviour) but when she talked to him in a personal, non-confrontational manner she seemed to get through to him

        2. ninja_jesus

          The “punch first” policy is reserved for Nazi’s in my book.

        3. chris73

          As long as what they say doesn’t break any local laws they can say what they like, I’d also prefer they didn’t, that no one listened and the media didn’t report it

        4. thejeff

          Joe not being a Nazi, Joyce being pained and disappointed may work better. It did before.

          OTOH, that may be the plan. If his reaction to falling to temptation and running off with Malaya is “I hurt Joyce by leaving her and I don’t want to do it again”, driving her away so she won’t care anymore fits his persona.

        5. avistel

          I find it endlessly amusing how people like you assume that no one ever punches back. Only thing more amusing is seeing the look on your faces when they do.

        6. BBCC

          Yet nowhere near as amusing as you assuming everything that is right or wrong to do in real life translates to what you want to see in fiction.

        7. avistel

          yeah, I’m endlessly thankful for fiction not reflecting reality in that respect. More violent hotheads getting decked in self-defence for me to laugh at

        8. BBCC

          Yeah, because clearly someone wishing violence on a fictional character means they would or would want to go around punching people in real life.

          Very clever.

        9. Agemegos

          Joyce has already punched Joe in the face. For checking out a waitress.

        10. Clif

          He’s no longer checking out the waitress. Success!

        11. Marsh Maryrose

          I think she had Mike punch Joe at Galasso’s.

  58. kilgaen

    Dorothy, not helping. Don’t know what else you could do, to be honest, but it’s not helping.

  59. motorfirebox

    Did… did he fall the fuck out over Malay? Over MALAYA!?

  60. Punkart

    Joe! I was concerned something happened, he is not making healthy decisions.

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