What’s the difference between walkyverse Mike and Bill Cipher?
One’s an unstoppable, omniscient, evil force of pure chaos, and the other is a demonic triangle.
I’m glad you cleared that up for us. Goes off to Google Bill Cipher. Returns with new respect for Mike who does it all without extra-dimensional powers.
This “Galasso’s” is involved somehow, too. I just know it. We just have to figure out what “FOOLS” really means, and then the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Forget Stealth, dump all your points into Charisma. That way when you get caught you can basically be like Obi-Wan and convince the enemy you were never there!
*meaning, not shown with the intention of catching the eye of anyone in particular or people in general, but just a consequence of not considering or caring that it would be showing.
That’s a direct effect of Joyce’s acquisition of the “Freshman Fifteen”. If you look back, you will see that Billie has also gotten a little more curvy in a couple of places as well.
Why are we focusing so much on Joyce’s wardrobe choice? It isn’t even a subject of the strip. I feel vaguely like I’m listening to people cry cameltoe.
I suspect it may actually matter, in that it’s a conscious wardrobe choice by Willis. Joyce being willing to wear a slightly more revealing outfit is interesting, even if it’s not actually talked about in comic.
it’s probably not at all significant, but she’s been in high collared shirts since at least Toe Dad’s rampage, so it feels significant. Like, it’s been Serious Biz for several days, and now it’s settling down a little. Maybe? Or alternately it’s just a part of her wardrobe and the calendar moves so glacially in DoA that we haven’t seen it in years and years. :-/
The alt-text, “NO CAPES!”, is a reference to the Pixar film The Incredibles.
Edna Mode, superhero costume designer, shouts it when a main character wants a cape on his costume. She rattles off a list of superheroes who were killed because they did superhero stuff with a bug useless piece of cloth on their back that catches on stuff and gets in the way.
I’m going to go out on a limb here: Until otherwise stated, I’m assuming that this is Carla’s doing. She made a random comment about Joyce’s figure that at least encouraged Joyce to try something different.
You know, I said a month or two or five back that Joyce really didn’t want to have kids because of how she reacted to (shower) grodiness.
And then I realized, Walky would LOVE doing the grody stuff. He’d be that dad who’d tweet pics of diaper-changing.
And Joyce is good at the responsibility stuff that Walky’s bad at. And Walky’s pretty good at seeing what lies in Joyce’s blind spots and calling her on it without being depressingly cynical or coddling.
They compliment each others’ weakness pretty darn well.
I know it’s not going to happen because it’s a Walkiverse relationship, but still, I ship it.
On one hand, yes. On the other hand, while her having been there so long is breaking dorm rules, spending a couple nights with her girlfriend shouldn’t be, so if AG can consider it a separate occasion it might work?
I think Amazi-Girl cares about her own rules, not the school’s. She jumps around on buildings and beats people up a lot. Plus she’s already saved Becky’s life, bit tough to turn on her. I think Amber’s shyness and current stress-level might make her unhappy to have a constant gregarious roommate, but she’d feel pretty bad to say No if it’s presented to her as just a coupla days.
She was worried about AG’s reaction to Ethan breaking the rules. AG hasn’t been shown to be super-flexible about people breaking rules (other than the ones forbidding vigilantism)
Amazi-Girl would be most likely to lecture ‘Dino-Girl’ at the risk of letting innocent people get too close where your enemies may target them to get to you.
Hmmm? I don’t know? My bias would argue Walky’s struggling from a position of weakness. Obscuring the face to improve his chances because Joyce has him thoroughly handled….but objectively….2x is more accurate. But that is boring! In the interest of baseless hyperbole factoring Walky’s poor diet I argue Joyce is at least 5x stronger than him!
Careful Walky. If she has to lead you into class like someone taking their pet to the vet, everyone else will notice. They won’t care, but they’ll notice.
I don’t count Mike. Mainly because I already have to deal with try-hard edgelord trolls, so I tend to just dismiss fictional ones. I’ve already spent too much time arguing with a group of particularly dense ones that a) black people do exist in Tolkien’s universe and b) the presence of one as a Gondorian soldier is not lore breaking on the trailer for “Shadow of War”.
This is a nice strip. I always love it when someone grabs a hoodie-clad friend by the hood to keep them from running away, because it’s just funny to see them get pulled back so easily.
To elaborate on the “deadname”* thing I brought up last strip, I realise it might have come across like I was implying I now have one less sibling, based on the phrasing “I used to have”. I still have the same amount (2 brothers), one just prefers male pronouns and has a different name, these days.
*I assume that’s the term for someone’s name before they get it changed?
Yep! I’m sure there are other terms but that’s the one I know. It came across as you intended, you used to know him as your sister, and now you know him as your brother.
Thank you for not misunderstanding my admittedly somewhat-ambiguous phrasing and consequently laying into me about it. That’s happened in the past with this sort of subject matter, and I’m glad it didn’t happen here.
All teasing aside, Becky is behaving admirable. The prospect of sleeping together with your first partner – with the possibility of “sleeping” together not entirely off the cards – is daunting for anyone. And she has had the same sex ad Joyce has!
Sex is one of the biggest sins she has been constantly warned about. She has a very vague idea how it’s even supposed to work, especially for two women, and she knows that Dina is about as clueless as herself. She REALLY doesn’t want to screw this up, but at the same time she is so exited and pent up she is about to… do that thing with the lady syrup.
So all things considered, a few silly jokes on her own expense while at the same time managing to communicate needs and concern to Dina is pretty impressive.
I mean, “being forced by circumstance to share a bed” is one of the cornerstones of cheesy romance writing. Becky’s brain has NO problem extrapolating from there.
Really like Joyce in this one, again. Just noticed Mike standing back there inconspicuously and I wondered how many times I’d missed him skulking around.
Did he ever interact with/troll Becky? Does he even know about her (despite everyone knowing)? It’s been a while.
Mike followed Walky out of the dorm two strips backs. Aren’t they roomies? If so, it makes sense that they’d appear at the same time.
It might be interesting if Mike has an ‘Even Evil Has Standards’ personal honour code that impels him to only troll Becky in a way that will not place her at risk. That said, he seems to be more interested in the interaction between Joyce and Walky at this moment.
The “Even Evil has Standards” is broadly accepted, I think. He hasn’t really picked on anyone who couldn’t take it, or didn’t in the end learn from it.
It’s possible that Mike has standards, in the sense that he wouldn’t actually get Becky thrown out on the street for the joy of it. Nobody has told him about her situation, so we can’t tell yet. But there are a lot of people who disagree with your second sentence. Ethan didn’t learn anything useful from being told that he wouldn’t be alone if he’d just stayed in the closet. Dorothy didn’t learn anything useful from having photos taken of her while she was asleep (unless it was “don’t trust Mike”). Joyce didn’t learn anything useful from having her phone snatched and her mother made to think she was hanging out with Satanists. And absolutely Amber didn’t learn anything useful from being told that not wanting to date an abuser meant she was probably an abuser herself. And that’s just a sampling of his general shittiness.
The only good result I can ever think of anything Mike’s done was getting Dorothy to admit she was dating Walky, and even if that’s what he intended (or if it was any of his business, particularly) that’s no excuse for getting there by slut-shaming her and trying to hurt Walky, in a public forum no less.
It’s possible that Mike has standards. But that doesn’t make him not evil.
Flakky, with Mike has punched down almost exclusively.
What have Dorothy or Sal “learned” from his slut-shaming? What did Ethan learn from being chased back into the closet? What did Amber learn from being told her taste in men meant she was doomed to become as abusive as her father?
Nothing. Because he’s not magic. He’s an asshole. Those aren’t brilliant techniques for spurring growth in other people, it’s abuse.
When positive development does end up happening after Mike’s abuse, it’s not until after his target stops letting Mike fuck with their head. He doesn’t get credit for that.
Here is about the only instance where Mike was a jerk in a way that actually exposed someone being hypocritical:
And he’s not even being all that mean there. It could even be construed as him sticking up for Joyce for a moment.
The thing people need to understand is that even if Mike was being an asshole with the intention of helping people, even if he actually knew what he was doing, and most importantly, even if he actually was helping people, this is still abuse.
Nobody has the right to treat people the way Mike does. Even if they’re trying to help.
Maybe no Dorothy because she’s also going to the meeting. Or maybe she knows about the meeting and its potential aftermath and doesn’t want the hallway crowded with gawking teens if Ruth has to exit the building.
The text doesn’t have to be detailed. Joyce knows that Walky is not doing well in math, and noticed his absence. She’s capable of putting two and two together.
If Dorothy becomes the RA, what will her reaction be to Becky staying on the floor? It’s a big rule they’re breaking, but on the other hand she drank alcohol to help be there for someone.
She said part of the reason she wants the job is to protect Becky.
Being a good person has always mattered more to Dorothy than perfectly obeying the rules. Much like Joyce, if it comes to a decision between Rules and Right, she’ll pick right reliably.
What? Walky was just going to make sure Bill Cipher attends class today. What’s wrong with that?
Being a cosmic entity of pure malice doesn’t excuse one from class. I mean, Mike showed up.
Mike’s not pure malice.
He’s at least part-snark.
Don’t insult Bill by comparing him to DoA Mike.
What’s the difference between walkyverse Mike and Bill Cipher?
One’s an unstoppable, omniscient, evil force of pure chaos, and the other is a demonic triangle.
Bill can sing.
I’m glad you cleared that up for us. Goes off to Google Bill Cipher. Returns with new respect for Mike who does it all without extra-dimensional powers.
And I don’t think Mike has ever been outsmarted by a pair of twelve year olds, much less repeatedly
Well, that explains Mike’s hair…
“QUICK BILLIE IS TRYING TO GET OUT OF GOING TO MATH”
“Projecting much?”
“SHE WIRETAPPED MY PHONE”
“yup, projecting”
So Walky wiretapped Billie’s phone, gotcha.
The real news here is that Dorothy blabbed.
But her text messages!
were all faked by the Russians.
This “Galasso’s” is involved somehow, too. I just know it. We just have to figure out what “FOOLS” really means, and then the dominoes will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate.
Oh my god, Walky, your eyes.
Your avatar is perfect
Joyce is Walky’s keeper
Dat 6th panel face.
Yep, its lovely. I don’t think I had seen that expression on Joyce before!
oh my god, joyce has cleavage, it’s the end of days come upon us
I know right?!
Distracting Cleavage is an actual skill you can allocate to your character in D&D.
Technically you can make up whatever skill you want and allocate points to it in D&D.
We’ll just add ten points to “Craft Chimichanga” and completely ignore all that stealth bull.
Forget Stealth, dump all your points into Charisma. That way when you get caught you can basically be like Obi-Wan and convince the enemy you were never there!
In what D20 implementation is it possible to divert points from a skill to an attribute
not to be confused with Kraft Chimichangas, the ultimate MexiCanadian cuisine
Is it used mostly by male players?
In some cases that would be more distracting.
I wish this were true, but it’s not.
It’s totally a feat, not a skill.
I will never be able to unsee that. Joyce has gone hardcore. o-o
How many facets does she have?
Holy shit I didn’t see that at first. Who is this imposter and what did she do with the real Joyce?
The return of Anti-Joyce, maybe?
… She’s had cleavage for a few strips already. 😛
It wasn’t as noticeable until we got a shot of her from the front.
It’s the pladies effect.
Yeah, but, I’m pretty sure it’s innocent* cleavage.
*meaning, not shown with the intention of catching the eye of anyone in particular or people in general, but just a consequence of not considering or caring that it would be showing.
Your definition of “innocent” sure seems like someone else’s definition of “sinful and negligent”. I like it.
…. okay, I can’t work this into a coherently punny sentence, but you got me thinking about sinfully negligent negligee.
Comments like this make me wish we could like comments.
Could also be the “women’s shirts are often lower cut” sort of cleavage
That’s a direct effect of Joyce’s acquisition of the “Freshman Fifteen”. If you look back, you will see that Billie has also gotten a little more curvy in a couple of places as well.
Dina noticed. She’s wearing her “clevage girl” shirt.
…Um?
Why are we focusing so much on Joyce’s wardrobe choice? It isn’t even a subject of the strip. I feel vaguely like I’m listening to people cry cameltoe.
CAMELT- oh wait you didn’t actually mean that.
I suspect it may actually matter, in that it’s a conscious wardrobe choice by Willis. Joyce being willing to wear a slightly more revealing outfit is interesting, even if it’s not actually talked about in comic.
unlikely
The more truthful answer is we will find any excuse to talk about naughty bits.
That kind of shirt lends itself to it. And Joyce is definitely endowed enough to warrant a bit of cleavage at least.
Not that it really matters? I think?
it’s probably not at all significant, but she’s been in high collared shirts since at least Toe Dad’s rampage, so it feels significant. Like, it’s been Serious Biz for several days, and now it’s settling down a little. Maybe? Or alternately it’s just a part of her wardrobe and the calendar moves so glacially in DoA that we haven’t seen it in years and years. :-/
Jesus is cool with it, I asked
Jesus is all abou that free love!
Roz on the other hand, is all about the “No glove, no love”.
At this point, I’m pretty sure Jesus ships it.
I just realized that Joyce is showing more cleavage than usual…
Anyway it’s suspicious that Dorothy isn’t there… I’m guessing she will also be attending that meeting in the RM’s office?!
Okay, it wasn’t just me.
Their class ends and they’ll be seeking lunch in about an hour.
Huh. What else is happening in an hour?
Yeah, that connection seems pretty obvious to me.
Still holding out hope for SIDNEY YUS though.
Still holding out hope for Headie Allen Monkmasters, the unknown evil.
Panel 6 Joyce: Challenge accepted.
I adore this incredibles reference
I wonder if he got it from our comments on when sal ripped amazi-girl out her hiding spot?
I bet he got it from The Incredibles.
What’s the reference?
The alt-text, “NO CAPES!”, is a reference to the Pixar film The Incredibles.
Edna Mode, superhero costume designer, shouts it when a main character wants a cape on his costume. She rattles off a list of superheroes who were killed because they did superhero stuff with a bug useless piece of cloth on their back that catches on stuff and gets in the way.
But he could have gone with a Watchmen reference: “No damned stupid cloaks!”
so beckys thinking about sex, right?
She’s slipshining it up in there something fierce!
She may just be hoping really hard that Dina doesn’t sleep in her hat.
(Dina totally sleeps in her hat.)
And nothing else. 😛
BOOM!!! Sorry, that’s my head cannon.
She sleeps in the hat. Or the hoodie, as the case may be.
She’s thinking about NOT thinking about sex, which is an even greater challenge than not thinking about sex.
…. pretend that made sense.
and then it circles back to thinking about sex
It’s the circle of sex
And it rules us all…
(but not everyone)
a percentage of the human population
Sorry. What’d you guys say? I was thinking.
“Lunch is a class and she wanted everyone to be in class so I need to get her so she isn’t tardy and WHY CAN’T I GET OUT OF THIS HOODIE?”
No capes!
I’m more of a “no capers” myself.
What have you got against pickled flower buds?
Who’s Bill Hurk?
That’s Will the Frat Bro after the huge party.
Wild Bill Hurk, accent on the Hurk.
Huh. It actually never occurred to me that Becky would still try to live within her church’s strictures.
Just because you reject that your spouse must be a dude doesn’t necessarily mean you instantly reject all your values about chastity, monogamy, etc.
Is it just me or is Joyce’s somewhat more provocative than usual? There’s clevage!
(By provocative, of course, I mean fairly normal for people who aren’t sheltered fundamentalists who feel shame in acknowledging they have boobs)
Joyce’s shirt, I mean.
I’m going to go out on a limb here: Until otherwise stated, I’m assuming that this is Carla’s doing. She made a random comment about Joyce’s figure that at least encouraged Joyce to try something different.
*looks for some Whodini*
These Are The People We Call FRIENDS.
You know, I said a month or two or five back that Joyce really didn’t want to have kids because of how she reacted to (shower) grodiness.
And then I realized, Walky would LOVE doing the grody stuff. He’d be that dad who’d tweet pics of diaper-changing.
And Joyce is good at the responsibility stuff that Walky’s bad at. And Walky’s pretty good at seeing what lies in Joyce’s blind spots and calling her on it without being depressingly cynical or coddling.
They compliment each others’ weakness pretty darn well.
I know it’s not going to happen because it’s a Walkiverse relationship, but still, I ship it.
Joyce and Walky, in unison: “YUCK!”
“Milan darling, Milan”
I’m sure Amber will say yes. But it’s Amazi-Girl that I’m worried about.
On one hand, yes. On the other hand, while her having been there so long is breaking dorm rules, spending a couple nights with her girlfriend shouldn’t be, so if AG can consider it a separate occasion it might work?
I think Amazi-Girl cares about her own rules, not the school’s. She jumps around on buildings and beats people up a lot. Plus she’s already saved Becky’s life, bit tough to turn on her. I think Amber’s shyness and current stress-level might make her unhappy to have a constant gregarious roommate, but she’d feel pretty bad to say No if it’s presented to her as just a coupla days.
She was worried about AG’s reaction to Ethan breaking the rules. AG hasn’t been shown to be super-flexible about people breaking rules (other than the ones forbidding vigilantism)
Assault, battery, and stalking are also okay by AG’s book. As are breaking and entering, theft, and vandalism.
Basically, ‘it’s okay if AG does it’.
More like “it’s okay WHEN AG does it”.
Theft and vandalism? When did AG commit either of those?
She stole a stop sign that was being gratified. Put it back later with Danny. Still stole it which counts as vandalism and theft even if temporary.
I’m pretty sure you meant to say graffitied, but now I can’t help but wonder if you’ve discovered a new genre of porn or not.
Stole the traffic sign.
She put it back a little while later, but she freely agreed it counted.
I’m wondering… She did flip out that time when Danny got a little tipsy because of underage drinking.
Amazi-Girl would be most likely to lecture ‘Dino-Girl’ at the risk of letting innocent people get too close where your enemies may target them to get to you.
Wouldn’t she be lecturing Becky about it instead? She’s far more likely to have people want to “get to her” than Dina.
Yes, but Becky isn’t the one with superpowers… At least none we know about.
Joyce is at least 3x stronger than you Walky give up.
I think it’s closer to 4x, but then again I’m not entirely sure. Also, I now want to see Joyce use the Kaioken for some reason.
Kaio wha-?
He held his own here
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/04-the-whiteboard-dong-bandit/godpertunity/
I think as long Joyce is not in RAGE!MODE she is at most 2x stronger than him.
Hmmm? I don’t know? My bias would argue Walky’s struggling from a position of weakness. Obscuring the face to improve his chances because Joyce has him thoroughly handled….but objectively….2x is more accurate. But that is boring! In the interest of baseless hyperbole factoring Walky’s poor diet I argue Joyce is at least 5x stronger than him!
And it isn’t even her final form!!!
In today’s strip she doesn’t need to be very strong, considering he’s pulling with his throat.
Also, calling it now. The something that’s come up is that Joyce is at Ruth’s meeting with the RM.
#PlayingItSafeSpeculation
Don’t you mean Dorothy is going to be at Ruth’s meeting with the RM?
#FailureToUseSpellingProtectionIsNotActuallySafe
….. just pretend that was a spelling mistake rather than a name-choice mistake.
What is WRONG with my brain tonight?
Too easy. :p
Same thing it’s wrong with it EVERY NIGHT, Reltzik.
It’s trying to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!!!
…….. actually it was trying to proove the Collatz Conjecture.
And now I know what the Collatz Conjecture is. Woot, knowledge!
“Not so fast, Buster!”
*jerked off feet by hood*
*Keaton pratfall*
….
*flees for dear punning life*
Just grin and math it, Walky.
Hoodies have been the number one leading cause for inability to run away from your problems since 1998. This has been another Useless Fact
Careful Walky. If she has to lead you into class like someone taking their pet to the vet, everyone else will notice. They won’t care, but they’ll notice.
Mike will care. Yesssss.
For a nickel.
I don’t count Mike. Mainly because I already have to deal with try-hard edgelord trolls, so I tend to just dismiss fictional ones. I’ve already spent too much time arguing with a group of particularly dense ones that a) black people do exist in Tolkien’s universe and b) the presence of one as a Gondorian soldier is not lore breaking on the trailer for “Shadow of War”.
Joyce’s face in panel 6 is my everything.
Suspicious Joyce is suspicious. I wonder how detailed the warning was Dorothy gave her about Walky’s likelihood of trying to run away?
Considering that there’s an ellipse before she says “everyone,” I’m going to go with “very.”
I think Sarah and Mike are actually impressed.
This is a nice strip. I always love it when someone grabs a hoodie-clad friend by the hood to keep them from running away, because it’s just funny to see them get pulled back so easily.
To elaborate on the “deadname”* thing I brought up last strip, I realise it might have come across like I was implying I now have one less sibling, based on the phrasing “I used to have”. I still have the same amount (2 brothers), one just prefers male pronouns and has a different name, these days.
*I assume that’s the term for someone’s name before they get it changed?
Yep! I’m sure there are other terms but that’s the one I know. It came across as you intended, you used to know him as your sister, and now you know him as your brother.
Thank you for not misunderstanding my admittedly somewhat-ambiguous phrasing and consequently laying into me about it. That’s happened in the past with this sort of subject matter, and I’m glad it didn’t happen here.
No worries, and thanks for making the world that much better by supporting your bro 🙂
I feel like both Sarah and Mike are impressed with Joyce’s hoodie grabbing technique
Mike’s expression actually says to me that he’s thinking: “What a woman!”
Also Mike’s thoughts: Sex choking
MAKE SPACE FOR JESUS, BECKY!
Those last three panels are why they were married in the other universe.
All teasing aside, Becky is behaving admirable. The prospect of sleeping together with your first partner – with the possibility of “sleeping” together not entirely off the cards – is daunting for anyone. And she has had the same sex ad Joyce has!
Sex is one of the biggest sins she has been constantly warned about. She has a very vague idea how it’s even supposed to work, especially for two women, and she knows that Dina is about as clueless as herself. She REALLY doesn’t want to screw this up, but at the same time she is so exited and pent up she is about to… do that thing with the lady syrup.
So all things considered, a few silly jokes on her own expense while at the same time managing to communicate needs and concern to Dina is pretty impressive.
I mean, “being forced by circumstance to share a bed” is one of the cornerstones of cheesy romance writing. Becky’s brain has NO problem extrapolating from there.
*selects Mortal Kombat soundbites* GET OVER HERE!
Joyce’s facial expressions continue to be hilarious all by themselves
I don’t know if I’ve ever loved Joyce as much as in that last panel.
…Yeah, I’m weird.
it’s joyce’s supervillain origin, She Who Makes Sure All Attend Class
Joyce can see through your weaksauce schemes, Walky. You’re really going to need to up your game with her… If you can.
Am I in the right comic universe?
This Joyce-Walky thing is pretty shippy
Nah, it’s more the ‘big sister/little brother’ dynamic than shipping. Walky is the Calvin to Joyce’s Suzy.
Yeah. I’ve said it before: Those two make way better semi-antagonistic pseudo-siblings than they ever did a couple.
Really like Joyce in this one, again. Just noticed Mike standing back there inconspicuously and I wondered how many times I’d missed him skulking around.
Did he ever interact with/troll Becky? Does he even know about her (despite everyone knowing)? It’s been a while.
Mike followed Walky out of the dorm two strips backs. Aren’t they roomies? If so, it makes sense that they’d appear at the same time.
It might be interesting if Mike has an ‘Even Evil Has Standards’ personal honour code that impels him to only troll Becky in a way that will not place her at risk. That said, he seems to be more interested in the interaction between Joyce and Walky at this moment.
I totally forgot they were roomies.
The “Even Evil has Standards” is broadly accepted, I think. He hasn’t really picked on anyone who couldn’t take it, or didn’t in the end learn from it.
It’s possible that Mike has standards, in the sense that he wouldn’t actually get Becky thrown out on the street for the joy of it. Nobody has told him about her situation, so we can’t tell yet. But there are a lot of people who disagree with your second sentence. Ethan didn’t learn anything useful from being told that he wouldn’t be alone if he’d just stayed in the closet. Dorothy didn’t learn anything useful from having photos taken of her while she was asleep (unless it was “don’t trust Mike”). Joyce didn’t learn anything useful from having her phone snatched and her mother made to think she was hanging out with Satanists. And absolutely Amber didn’t learn anything useful from being told that not wanting to date an abuser meant she was probably an abuser herself. And that’s just a sampling of his general shittiness.
The only good result I can ever think of anything Mike’s done was getting Dorothy to admit she was dating Walky, and even if that’s what he intended (or if it was any of his business, particularly) that’s no excuse for getting there by slut-shaming her and trying to hurt Walky, in a public forum no less.
It’s possible that Mike has standards. But that doesn’t make him not evil.
Flakky, with Mike has punched down almost exclusively.
What have Dorothy or Sal “learned” from his slut-shaming? What did Ethan learn from being chased back into the closet? What did Amber learn from being told her taste in men meant she was doomed to become as abusive as her father?
Nothing. Because he’s not magic. He’s an asshole. Those aren’t brilliant techniques for spurring growth in other people, it’s abuse.
When positive development does end up happening after Mike’s abuse, it’s not until after his target stops letting Mike fuck with their head. He doesn’t get credit for that.
Here is about the only instance where Mike was a jerk in a way that actually exposed someone being hypocritical:
http://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-6/02-that-perfect-girl/profane/
And he’s not even being all that mean there. It could even be construed as him sticking up for Joyce for a moment.
The thing people need to understand is that even if Mike was being an asshole with the intention of helping people, even if he actually knew what he was doing, and most importantly, even if he actually was helping people, this is still abuse.
Nobody has the right to treat people the way Mike does. Even if they’re trying to help.
At this point, I don’t even come for the comic. I come for the alt-text jokes.
Sarah and Mike sharing the same expression is… disconcerting.
I just love the mirroring of Joyce and Walky in panels 3/4 and 5/6! It’s a lovely touch.
Maybe no Dorothy because she’s also going to the meeting. Or maybe she knows about the meeting and its potential aftermath and doesn’t want the hallway crowded with gawking teens if Ruth has to exit the building.
Dorothy isn’t in their Calculus class.
Sorry, Dorothy wants everyone to attend class to hide that she is mainly concerned Walky attends class. And Joyce is her enforcer.
That Joyce face in panel 6. Love it.
The text doesn’t have to be detailed. Joyce knows that Walky is not doing well in math, and noticed his absence. She’s capable of putting two and two together.
LOL at Joyce’s face in panel 7
If Dorothy becomes the RA, what will her reaction be to Becky staying on the floor? It’s a big rule they’re breaking, but on the other hand she drank alcohol to help be there for someone.
She said part of the reason she wants the job is to protect Becky.
Being a good person has always mattered more to Dorothy than perfectly obeying the rules. Much like Joyce, if it comes to a decision between Rules and Right, she’ll pick right reliably.