I still haven’t ruled out such an occurrence. The comments section was way too convinced that it was a fake out, there is basically nothing that is going to make me give up my prepared for a ‘gotcha.” Don’t even bother.
“I’m Mike’s identical twin brother, Mike 2. Mike has already told me everything you all have been up to so there’s no need to fill me in or anything, and to make things easier you can just call me Mike.”
At least on android, tapping the empty space under the bottom right of the comic has a pop-up showing the alt text. Also long pressing the comic will show most of all of the alt text.
She Trusts Joe, and trust can go a long way. Trauma doesn’t always hit you hard, sometimes its just a quick shock and you can calm yourself down once you have a moment to think or if your with somebody you trust.
Joe is correct, she chose to get drunk herself and didn’t ask if he would even want to drink, he was obviously feeling uncomfortable about it even before she started drinking. So even if him not drinking triggered her trauma, she put herself in that situation, not Joe. He also made sure she was safe and having fun the whole night, got her home safe and without them getting caught with her drunk off her ass. She would probably find it hard to stay upset at him for being a responsible boyfriend.
I think she on some level understands she’s being irrational. “I’m not fragile.” “Relationships are.” probably hit home for her, given she kinda blew up hers with Jacob.
I feel like it’s more that talking it out helped both of them feel heard, plus he’s agreeing to meet her in the middle. With that, she’s got less to be upset with him about.
Wow, it only took a quick talk, just like I said. The amount of unearned smugness in my bones is melting the marrow and replacing it with solid hickory-smoked pork chop ore.
Excellent point. Considering how sheltered Joyce’s upbringing was I’m actually more surprised that she didn’t go completely overboard. She’s getting to enjoy things in her life that she never had the opportunity to experience, and she is enjoying new things. However she hasn’t gone of the deep end, and she has good people around her so I think she’ll be fine.
Thanks you that’s exactly what I’m saying. It is literally what most teenagers do when they actually given some semblance of actual freedom, it just look more overt from Joyce due to how long she’s been repressed.
Look, I’m a teetotal ace who’s so law-abiding it worries me that my local library has stopped bothering about overdue books. And even I’m thinking “You go, girl!”
I am glad they talked it out, and that Joe’s sharing what he specifically wants here, too. It makes sense, given a lot of this is so new to him.
Also, I wonder if they’re ever going to carry out their threat- err, promise, Joyce and Dorothy, of a double-date. Given Joe and Walky’s personalities, that’d be good for some laughs.
Ah the autistic struggle of not being able to properly control one’s face, I know it well. Though for me it’s less eyebrow control and more my mouth. I can’t smile on demand, at all, or frown on demand. I’ve got no input on my expression and whenever I try it goes about as well as this is for Joyce XD
So I can sort of control the individual muscles to an extent, but the end result of manually smiling makes me look like I’m from the movie “Smile” and it’s very unsettling even to me lol
Oh I didn’t know lack of control over facial muscles was an autistic thing, that’s interesting! So much of the experience is about how we receive information, the more physical symptoms are interesting to me.
I never had that, I’m more of a “practicing fake smiles in the mirror for masking purposes” kinda gal. I do struggle to keep my forehead relaxed though, maybe that’s something. The subtle feeling and visual difference of my hooded eyelids drives me crazy so I constantly have my eyebrows raised, and it’s starting to give me wrinkles .-.
Very same, from the practicing fake smiles in the mirror to the wrinkles forming by eyebrows (though in my case it’s that’s my eyebrows are often scrunched without me realizing it when I’m alone and feeling stressed, which is pretty much anytime I’m driving).
Yeah I don’t know if it’s a universal thing, but it is a trend I’ve noticed among neurodivergent people. I imagine that like most autism symptoms, it’s a spectrum and not everyone has it equally
I find it interesting how others like to treat Joyce like she’s a little kid yet she’s navigating her first real relationship really well and Joe is doing a great job as well
I’d especially like Dorothy and Sarah to take note of how Joyce is doing, they’d both learn a thing or two
Ugh, sudden premonition: Mary’s going to find a way to tattle to Joyce’s mother, Dad gets drawn in, and the parents make a big scene…at the Fountain, no less.
Malaya hates the fakey stuff. But maybe just possibly maybe Joyce and Joe are being authentic and not-fakey? Malaya might approve in a “meh” accepting way? (i dunno, i’m reaching on this one.)
My gut feeling is that, after spending more than a minute watching Joyce/Joe interact, Malaya would reluctantly acknowledge that their romance is probably genuine, simply because she would find it too weird and stupid to possibly be faked. However, because they’re single at the moment, they would also BURN with seething envy at how sickeningly sweet the relationship is, and thus complain loudly about the whole thing ANYWAY.
…Or wait, IS Malaya single at the moment? I can’t remember off the top of my head how their whole thing with Marcie resolved, if at all.
I found out only a couple days ago that my sister can wiggle her eyebrows like Jim Carrey cos she was obsessed with him as a kid. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it and I just look like I’m having a stoke
I learned I could do the Spock eyebrow when I first watched TOS. I can also switch raised brows from side to side quickly. Can do the tongue curl thing, too. Yay for useless genetic quirks.
They are so cute and i love them and i really really want their date to work out and not turn into an argument or problem because they are great and i am CONSTANTLY WORRIED they’ll break up
Not unreasonable. It’s the “you owe me” that I find troubling. But this is new territory for her. Maybe in time she’ll learn that “aw, Joe, this is something I want to share with you” is a lot more appealing — at least, I would find it so.
Maybe not “torn up”, but definitely deflecting away from it. Like he did last time.
I think it’s pretty clear he’s still not comfortable with the idea, for the reasons he gave in the last strip. Despite Joyce handwaving them away with “I’m not fragile.”
I figure it was the most real thing that’s ever happened to him up to that point. Even with Mike’s presence skewing it towards unreality. He’s dwelled on it and decided it was fun, or at least fun is a safe word to describe it without getting too real.
Yeah this is actually an example of a super healthy relationship imo.
People in relationships always make mistakes. There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship because there’s no such thing as a perfect person.
As someone who has been happily married for over a decade, I’ve found main difference between my current relationship and past ones isn’t whether or not we ever argue or disagree or make mistakes. It’s how we deal with it when those things happen. In unhealthy relationships, arguments don’t get resolved, resentments continue to build, people don’t learn from their mistakes and try to do better, etc. In a healthy relationship, arguments and mistakes will ideally lead to understanding each other better and ultimately strengthening the relationship.
This is where we find out that this is, in fact, a rehash of the Walkyverse, and everyone has been abducted by aliens and has powers they don’t know about.
What are some of your favorite cute date ideas? I like going to the zoo, to a museum, to a local fair, or to a pottery painting place (though now that I do ceramics classes regularly, I have more than enough of my own pottery at home).
I’ve never been on a date at a board game café, but that seems like it’d be fun. After I know the person a little, I’d also like library dates that are full of talking about books one’s read throughout their life.
I usually go for the dinner and movie mainstay, but sometimes there’s a carnival of festival nearby. An out-of-town shopping trip is always a good time too, even when we only end up with like one thing.
One thing I don’t love about the standard format of that is that it seems to be dinner and then a movie, which I guess makes sense if the best time to meet starts around dinner time anyway, but I prefer the structure of a movie and then dinner. Then you can talk about the movie as a good starting point. But also, I don’t love going to the movies, so it wouldn’t be a top choice for me anyway.
Anymore, employees anywhere aren’t allowed to stop you from doing anything. You could walk into the new Avengers movie and start jelqing in the front row, and they’d be powerless to stop you. It’s really fucked up.
I haven’t really been on much in the way of dates but I think a farmer’s market and a walk in the park sounds really nice. Going for a short hike and getting ice cream after also sounds neat. I just generally really like going outside with people.
If she’s trying to waggle her eyebrows suggestively she has only suggested a vague idea of discomfort and a need to go to the bathroom.
I think trying really hard to avoid a sneeze would also be a potential suggestion from panel 6’s Joyce-face
But she does need to go to the bathroom.
That’s where the shower is.
Question… Do they have toilets in the communal shower rooms if the dorm?
It may seem redundant since each room has its own bathroom, but they may have them for visitors.
Yes. For visitors and for when you need one and your room one is occupied. Or if you’re showering and need one.
Give her a break. She’s new at this.
I AM SEDUCING YOU
YOU ARE SEDUCED
*I’m* turned on.
Is that from the dead Mike referrence in the alt text?
That’s a big promise Joe
Especially since we know his concepts of dating are largely building up to sex.
Mike’s gonna read the hover text, accept it as a challenge, and that’s how he’s going to return to the comic.
Don’t you dare.
Cyber-Mike Rises, coming to theaters (and in your mom) Summer 2025.
Ticket price is one nickel.
I still haven’t ruled out such an occurrence. The comments section was way too convinced that it was a fake out, there is basically nothing that is going to make me give up my prepared for a ‘gotcha.” Don’t even bother.
Maybe he managed to schedule some real gut punch of a tweet before he died.
He convinced Danny, who coded it, that it was or something else and will make him push the button accordingly.
Yeah but given Joyce’s new attitude, she will be the one getting punched every few seconds for having “lustful thoughts”.
Could be it turns out Mike had a long-lost twin brother who finally learned about him. :O
“I’m Mike’s identical twin brother, Mike 2. Mike has already told me everything you all have been up to so there’s no need to fill me in or anything, and to make things easier you can just call me Mike.”
*wah* I can’t sort how to see alt-text, on phone ot tablet! Help?
I think I used to know, but I’ve slept since then.
At least on android, tapping the empty space under the bottom right of the comic has a pop-up showing the alt text. Also long pressing the comic will show most of all of the alt text.
Its worse when they just waggle on their own and you can’t stop them.
Alt text: “Oof.”
… that’s what he said.
(sorry, not sorry)
… XD
My ribs now hurt from laughing, so thank you(./?)
Nothing so sexy as the old Groucho Marx eyebrow wriggle.
(Margaret Dumont has liked your post)
I refuse to join any shower that would have me as a member.
🙂
But do you refuse to join any club that would have your member?
Outside of his member, I’d say a book is a man’s best friend. Inside of his member, its too dark to read.
Sounds like some high brow flirting.
The day has only just begun. You didn’t have to make people resort to violence.
She is the fore-head-most expert in seduction.
Eye see what you did there.
Don’t get so angry, you’ll just start lashing out.
Damn, hovertext!!
(I thought this might be a full “Damn you, Willis” but I decided that has to be reserved for confounding things happening in the comic itself….)
I suppose they could get Booster to glue a yellow broom to their forehead…
Amber and Amazi-Girl get distracted bickering with each other long enough for Brain!Mike to take the helm.
Well Joyce got over that quickly.
She Trusts Joe, and trust can go a long way. Trauma doesn’t always hit you hard, sometimes its just a quick shock and you can calm yourself down once you have a moment to think or if your with somebody you trust.
Joe is correct, she chose to get drunk herself and didn’t ask if he would even want to drink, he was obviously feeling uncomfortable about it even before she started drinking. So even if him not drinking triggered her trauma, she put herself in that situation, not Joe. He also made sure she was safe and having fun the whole night, got her home safe and without them getting caught with her drunk off her ass. She would probably find it hard to stay upset at him for being a responsible boyfriend.
I think she on some level understands she’s being irrational. “I’m not fragile.” “Relationships are.” probably hit home for her, given she kinda blew up hers with Jacob.
I feel like it’s more that talking it out helped both of them feel heard, plus he’s agreeing to meet her in the middle. With that, she’s got less to be upset with him about.
Amazing what an understanding conversation can do.
I would be very concerned if their next date ended with Mike punching Joe again.
Honestly, I would seriously consider subscribing to their Patreon for a non-canon zombie uprising omake.
Can we swap out zombie-Mike for Zombie-Reagan? I miss that guy.
What about AI-Reagan?
GKHJ. Too wholesome, it’s going to kill me
Can you smell what she’s cooking, Joe?
Joyce was indeed successful, in her own cute, dorky way ^^ <3
Wow, it only took a quick talk, just like I said. The amount of unearned smugness in my bones is melting the marrow and replacing it with solid hickory-smoked pork chop ore.
It’s a good feeling.
Mmmmm, meat ore.
Ethically and sustainably sourced from the pro-union meat mines.
I’m told a meaty ore is what killed off the dinosaurs.
Nah, some new studies have come out saying it was an ass-troid.
I’d mine some more but I’m out of adventures for the day. 🙁
Joe will have to get some flowers, and also a shovel.
She’s still over-correcting and at some point, it’s going to catch up with her.
Have you thought that maybe she just want enjoy things she’s been told her entire life will send her to hell? And that’s not a bad thing?
Excellent point. Considering how sheltered Joyce’s upbringing was I’m actually more surprised that she didn’t go completely overboard. She’s getting to enjoy things in her life that she never had the opportunity to experience, and she is enjoying new things. However she hasn’t gone of the deep end, and she has good people around her so I think she’ll be fine.
Thanks you that’s exactly what I’m saying. It is literally what most teenagers do when they actually given some semblance of actual freedom, it just look more overt from Joyce due to how long she’s been repressed.
God forbid someone have a little fun.
Look, I’m a teetotal ace who’s so law-abiding it worries me that my local library has stopped bothering about overdue books. And even I’m thinking “You go, girl!”
With a safe partner, flirting is a fun activity. You can copy what you’ve seen others do, but you can also feel safe to experiment and try new things.
I am glad they talked it out, and that Joe’s sharing what he specifically wants here, too. It makes sense, given a lot of this is so new to him.
Also, I wonder if they’re ever going to carry out their threat- err, promise, Joyce and Dorothy, of a double-date. Given Joe and Walky’s personalities, that’d be good for some laughs.
There’s at least one fanfic exploring that scenario.
Dumbing of Age, Book 17: So Fun You’ll Forget You’re Not Doing Crimes
A sexy shower, with sexy milk-jug boots.
Ohhh, fuck yeahh, wear those sexy mipk-jugs on your slutty feet, mmmmm…
*milk – I couldn’t spell, ’cause I was thinking about the sexy repurposed plastic footwear *droool*.
Don’t go inviting them in.
Now I feel like I need a shower >.<
The joejoyce we want and the JoeJoyce we deserve ?
Are they gonna “Weekend at Bernie’s” Mike with them?
Yet another example of how the world is a better place with Mike dead.
?
Ah the autistic struggle of not being able to properly control one’s face, I know it well. Though for me it’s less eyebrow control and more my mouth. I can’t smile on demand, at all, or frown on demand. I’ve got no input on my expression and whenever I try it goes about as well as this is for Joyce XD
can you control the individual muscles?
wait, you kind of answered that, I guess. (making expressions manually is hard.)
So I can sort of control the individual muscles to an extent, but the end result of manually smiling makes me look like I’m from the movie “Smile” and it’s very unsettling even to me lol
Yeah i feel this, it’s also why i found forced smiles like Becky’s rather… unsettling.
Like how do you even do that? T_T
Too often our deliberate, forced, unfelt smile looks more like “The Cage” Spock trying to blend in.
The smilling struggle is so real… That’s why I prefer making selfies always with a serious face.
Oh I didn’t know lack of control over facial muscles was an autistic thing, that’s interesting! So much of the experience is about how we receive information, the more physical symptoms are interesting to me.
I never had that, I’m more of a “practicing fake smiles in the mirror for masking purposes” kinda gal. I do struggle to keep my forehead relaxed though, maybe that’s something. The subtle feeling and visual difference of my hooded eyelids drives me crazy so I constantly have my eyebrows raised, and it’s starting to give me wrinkles .-.
Very same, from the practicing fake smiles in the mirror to the wrinkles forming by eyebrows (though in my case it’s that’s my eyebrows are often scrunched without me realizing it when I’m alone and feeling stressed, which is pretty much anytime I’m driving).
Yeah I don’t know if it’s a universal thing, but it is a trend I’ve noticed among neurodivergent people. I imagine that like most autism symptoms, it’s a spectrum and not everyone has it equally
I find it interesting how others like to treat Joyce like she’s a little kid yet she’s navigating her first real relationship really well and Joe is doing a great job as well
I’d especially like Dorothy and Sarah to take note of how Joyce is doing, they’d both learn a thing or two
Walky could also learn from Joe as well
awwww these two did so well!
Now someone needs to hunt down Mary and throw her into the sun.
Ugh, sudden premonition: Mary’s going to find a way to tattle to Joyce’s mother, Dad gets drawn in, and the parents make a big scene…at the Fountain, no less.
i want this date to go super well and i want it to be sweet and heartwarming and i FIRMLY expect that i will go “d’aawwwwww” while reading it
which is very ironic given my current malaya avatar, god dangit malaya
Malaya hates the fakey stuff. But maybe just possibly maybe Joyce and Joe are being authentic and not-fakey? Malaya might approve in a “meh” accepting way? (i dunno, i’m reaching on this one.)
Malaya hates other people’s fakey. She is perfectly fine with her own fakeyness.
My gut feeling is that, after spending more than a minute watching Joyce/Joe interact, Malaya would reluctantly acknowledge that their romance is probably genuine, simply because she would find it too weird and stupid to possibly be faked. However, because they’re single at the moment, they would also BURN with seething envy at how sickeningly sweet the relationship is, and thus complain loudly about the whole thing ANYWAY.
…Or wait, IS Malaya single at the moment? I can’t remember off the top of my head how their whole thing with Marcie resolved, if at all.
I mean, as long as you don’t eat at Galasso’s again, he would never have to stare at Conquest… Taco Bell, then?
Sorry, Joyce, you’d be more able to wiggle your ears than waggle your eyebrows.
God damn, is the hovertext a reference to Mike??
Survey says: Yes.
I found out only a couple days ago that my sister can wiggle her eyebrows like Jim Carrey cos she was obsessed with him as a kid. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it and I just look like I’m having a stoke
So you’re doing it properly?
I spent far too much time trying to raise a single eyebrow sardonically like Mr Spock or Lord Vetinari. Never managed it.
I learned I could do the Spock eyebrow when I first watched TOS. I can also switch raised brows from side to side quickly. Can do the tongue curl thing, too. Yay for useless genetic quirks.
I can move both my eyebrows independently. I can also move my ears and flair my nostrils.
I have a very talented head.
Can ya do the tongue curl thing?
They are so cute and i love them and i really really want their date to work out and not turn into an argument or problem because they are great and i am CONSTANTLY WORRIED they’ll break up
Crisis Averted! May they date and prosper!
As the Vulcans say, “Date long and prosper.” (shipping is logical; vulcans approve of infinite diversity in infinite combination)
Ia Amber going to appear at the date, as her “suprise” third split personality: Mike…
and start punching?
😛
She’s still pressuring him to drink and get drunk. If anybody gets that into alcohol that quickly, I suspect trouble ahead.
She’s collecting experiences. She wants to be drunk with someone as a couple.
Not unreasonable. It’s the “you owe me” that I find troubling. But this is new territory for her. Maybe in time she’ll learn that “aw, Joe, this is something I want to share with you” is a lot more appealing — at least, I would find it so.
[except that my name isn’t Joe….]
Yeah, he seems real torn up about it.
Maybe not “torn up”, but definitely deflecting away from it. Like he did last time.
I think it’s pretty clear he’s still not comfortable with the idea, for the reasons he gave in the last strip. Despite Joyce handwaving them away with “I’m not fragile.”
Okay.
Joyce: “And the first step is putting on my shower stilts!” raises eyebrows provocatively.
Mmm, oh, yeah, dirty sexy plastic jug shower stilts. A Rutten original!
Happy to learn that Joe thinks their truncated date was fun, regardless.
I figure it was the most real thing that’s ever happened to him up to that point. Even with Mike’s presence skewing it towards unreality. He’s dwelled on it and decided it was fun, or at least fun is a safe word to describe it without getting too real.
When Joe was referring to their first date being “real” and “fun”, I think he was emphasizing the “real” part rather than the “fun” part.
They are growing up. Learning to communicate… to take a breath, a moment, and listen.
Ah, yes. As noted relationship councilor Robert Van Winkle says, they must “Stop, collaborate, and listen”
Yeah this is actually an example of a super healthy relationship imo.
People in relationships always make mistakes. There’s no such thing as a perfect relationship because there’s no such thing as a perfect person.
As someone who has been happily married for over a decade, I’ve found main difference between my current relationship and past ones isn’t whether or not we ever argue or disagree or make mistakes. It’s how we deal with it when those things happen. In unhealthy relationships, arguments don’t get resolved, resentments continue to build, people don’t learn from their mistakes and try to do better, etc. In a healthy relationship, arguments and mistakes will ideally lead to understanding each other better and ultimately strengthening the relationship.
This is where we find out that this is, in fact, a rehash of the Walkyverse, and everyone has been abducted by aliens and has powers they don’t know about.
What are some of your favorite cute date ideas? I like going to the zoo, to a museum, to a local fair, or to a pottery painting place (though now that I do ceramics classes regularly, I have more than enough of my own pottery at home).
Having a picnic in a park
Food court at a mall,
Even just playing games with each other, either on the couch together or online
One of my friends met their husband playing Minecraft together ^^
I’ve never been on a date at a board game café, but that seems like it’d be fun. After I know the person a little, I’d also like library dates that are full of talking about books one’s read throughout their life.
I usually go for the dinner and movie mainstay, but sometimes there’s a carnival of festival nearby. An out-of-town shopping trip is always a good time too, even when we only end up with like one thing.
There are reasons dinner and a movie is a classic, even if it seems trite and unimaginative.
One thing I don’t love about the standard format of that is that it seems to be dinner and then a movie, which I guess makes sense if the best time to meet starts around dinner time anyway, but I prefer the structure of a movie and then dinner. Then you can talk about the movie as a good starting point. But also, I don’t love going to the movies, so it wouldn’t be a top choice for me anyway.
I am guessing it’s in part for not going to the movies hungry, I heard the snacks there can be pretty damn expensive.
especially given if they don’t got an arcade inside
it’s because that’s literally how theaters make most of their money; the majority of ticket sale money goes to the people who actually make the movies
Then you miss the fun of sneaking food into the theater, though!
I’ve legit never had to do that.
Theaters I’ve been to in CA at least just don’t care
and a good thing given certain people have to bring their own food for health/medical reasons.
Anymore, employees anywhere aren’t allowed to stop you from doing anything. You could walk into the new Avengers movie and start jelqing in the front row, and they’d be powerless to stop you. It’s really fucked up.
I still sneak my snacks in, out of respect.
I haven’t really been on much in the way of dates but I think a farmer’s market and a walk in the park sounds really nice. Going for a short hike and getting ice cream after also sounds neat. I just generally really like going outside with people.
Bowling, mini golf, bicycling with a picnic lunch, a walk in a nice park with a picnic lunch. But movies are good too.
The human part of me thinks this is warm, positive, healthy.
The depraved writer side of me sees “simultaneous boozy times” as a loaded Chekhov’s gun.
But that paranoid part of me sees guns everywhere. Like, everywhere.
Hey, I wonder when Liz is going to swing by and see Sarah again. Maybe Joyce will invite her along to the next keg party.
Often it’s good to turn off the trope seeking part of your brain, it often give false positives.
The closer we get to Joe, and Joyce doing the horizontal tango the closer I get to selling my organs so I can pay for a slipshine account.