109

Caught
Posted on May 4, 2018 by David M Willis

109 thoughts on “Caught”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “also, you didn’t make fun of me saying ‘Waw-kay‘”

    1. PB

      I just read that earlier today for the first time. And so I thank you. 😀

  2. CleverTrousers

    Do the patrons ever read the comic ahead of time and keep refreshing the page so they can have something insightful to say thirty seconds after it goes up?

    1. Maveric1984

      Yes

    2. SailorCake

      I always wonder that too :O

    3. Doctor_Who

      I assure you, I have never had anything insightful to say in my life.

      1. CleverTrousers

        Patreon is your TARDIS!? You charlatan!

        1. Dean

          The Doc is on the $100/month ‘Get the comic before Willis writes it’ level.

        2. Doctor_Who

          Considering the buffer, that means it’s late July here. So I’ve already gotten to see Deadpool 2, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Incredibles 2, and Solo.

          But the main benefit is the DoA comics.

        3. Reltzik

          ….. wait, what does a time-traveler need with an advanced-viewership perk, again?

        4. Cholma

          Silly boy! Next you’ll be asking dumb questions like: “why does God need a starship?” 😀

        5. Reltzik

          Or “How is it that movie actually had a good line in it?”

        6. Pablo360

          Or “How much wood could a woodchuck chuck with those tiny little woodchuck arms?”

        7. Deanatay

          You’d be surprised how many terrible movies are so totally quotable.

      2. Dana

        +1 Insightful.

    4. Yumi

      Almost definitely– more so the looser you’re willing to be with “insightful.”

    5. Pablo360

      I’m pretty sure that’s Ana Chronistic’s entire MO

  3. JetstreamGW

    Meh. No harm no foul 😛

  4. miados

    Adults let you pick which side of the coin to flip, but reveal that it is going to be a dice roll. sorry walky.

    1. DSL

      No, we tell you it WAS a dice roll after the coin flip.

  5. Jengoci

    Oh yeah, Walky, now you go being a little brat because things didn’t go your way, stupid kid

    1. DailyBrad

      He’s drunk for probably the second time in his life and just got dumped earlier today. Cut the dude a little slack.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        No, he must behave perfectly at all times. Otherwise, the Old Gray will awaken.

    2. Puckish Rogue

      Don’t worry about it, he’s got a coming hangover to deal with

    3. CleverTrousers

      Hey, the QC forum discourse is here.

      1. Yumi

        It’s funny seeing how the two forums view each other. (I prefer this one, personally. I mostly lurk in QC, and almost always regret posting because I know it means I’m going to go back to check for replies and what have you, and it’s often not an enjoyable space to engage in.)

        1. CleverTrousers

          I just get angry.

        2. Yumi

          I posted there tonight and got a very condescending response, so I get that too.

        3. Needfuldoer

          I generally prefer the traditional message board format over Reddit-style branching comments for general discussion, but I don’t go over there much. I’m not really into much of what they talk about outside comic discussion, and it always felt a little too easy to accidentally come across as a jerk.

          This place is alright. You’re all good folks.

        4. Yumi

          Format style, I agree, though I’m coming around to how comments are structured here. I mostly stick to the comic discussion there as well, but it still seems to get too jerkish, too often, too fast.

        5. chris73

          Toe the line or else

  6. Passchendaele

    Adulting lesson four: if possible, leave no witnesses

    1. Pablo360

      Adulting lesson five: Never assume that an adult does not have britjas at their disposal.

      1. Tacos

        Adulting lesson six: Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Adulting lesson seven: If you have a choice between being smart and being lucky, choose lucky.

        2. King Daniel

          Adulting lesson seven: Confess your sins, ready for the moment of adrenaline when you finally face your opponent.

        3. Yumi

          Adulting lesson eleven: Don’t get in duels, you morons, and if you do, don’t act surprised about someone getting shot.

        4. miados

          adulting realization number whatever.

          10,000 dollars is not a lot of money to have, but it is a lot of money to owe.

        5. Stellar

          Adulting Lesson Eleventy Two:

          Fifty nuggets for second breakfast only sounds like a good idea.

        6. Pablo360

          Adulting Lesson Negative Eighty-Eight: When someone asks you if you’re a god, say yes.

        7. OBBWG

          Adulting lesson 133.7:

          Accept those things you cannot change.
          Have courage to change the things you can change.
          Have the wisdom to know where to hide the bodies.

        8. Stellar

          Adulting Lesson 1984

          Big Brother Is Watching You

  7. Stephen Bierce

    It Don’t Mean Nothing, the words that they say
    It Don’t Mean Nothing, these games that people play
    It Don’t Mean Nothing, no victim no crime…
    It Don’t Mean Nothing till you sign it on the dotted line!

  8. carl320

    Jason, adulting all over the place.

  9. DailyBrad

    Next chapter, Walky BS’s his way into being in Texan law enforcement, in:
    Walky, Texas Ranger.

    1. Marsh Maryrose

      And after that, he BS’s his way into an acting gig. But since there’s already a SAG-AFTRA actor named “David Walkerton,” he takes the stage name Walky Phoenix.

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Walky doesn’t rhyme with Joaquin, though?

        1. Marsh Maryrose

          Close enough for punning. As I hear it, as least as much within pun-range as Walky for Walker.

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Wait. Is it not pronounced “JOE-uh-kwinn”?

        3. Reltzik

          Wah-keen.

        4. Yumi

          Quick, how do you think you pronounce “Oaxaca”?

        5. Marsh Maryrose

          Many years ago, I saw a restaurant in San Francisco that was named “WA-HA-KA!” I took me over a minute to get it.

        6. Marsh Maryrose

          Wah-keen or Hwah-keen. (In Spanish, the first syllable is “hwah” but the interviewers I’ve heard just go with “Wah,” and for all I know that’s how he pronounces it too.)

        7. Terry

          I can speak from experience on this one. My own last name has a “correct” way to pronounce it and the way everyone pronounces it. My family just pronounces it the way everyone does because it is easier than correcting them. We’ve done it this way for as long as I’ve been alive. Since my great grandparents and my grandfather are dead, no one I know pronounce it the correct way anymore.

        8. Liquid Len

          One instance if someone making pains to correct the pronunciation of his name is NY Red Bulls player Alex Muyl. For the longest time, commentators mis-pronounced it “mee-YOOL” or sometimes just mule (like the animal). Last season he corrected the press and said it’s pronounced “moo-EEL”.

  10. Mr. Random

    Breaking the law is okay if it’s necessary, until people find out.

    1. Yumi

      Depends on the law

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Are anti-buggery laws fair game, though? Asking for a friend. And also for myself.

        1. Yumi

          Are…all participants humans?

        2. Delicious Taffy

          Shit, I thought was, until you asked.

        3. Delicious Taffy

          NOW look what you did. Can’t even refer to self with first-person pronouns, anymore.

        4. Pablo360

          Soon all other pronouns will suffer the same fate.

        5. Delicious Taffy

          In that case, should continue messing up HTML and grammar, for the cause.

    2. BenRG

      The history of politics suggests that even after people find out, breaking the law when necessary can be deemed ‘okay’ and not deserving of further action.

      1. Mr. Random

        Ah, nullification. The true loophole we all love until we hate.

  11. Screwball

    Adulting, I’m not happy with it, I wanna cancel my subscription…

  12. AutobotDen

    Walky needed to hear that.

  13. Bagge

    Kinda good.

    You know, sorta.

  14. doombunny88

    I have to wonder. What are all the adulting rules? Cuz I certainly never got them. Though I think I’m doing okay. *I say as I eat tiny tortilla chip crumbs and drink salsa out of the jar*

    1. Reltzik

      Adulting rules basically are “Whatever I can get away with without suffering injury or loss of life, property, social standing, or harm to people I care about.”

      It’s very much like kid rules, only with more complicated consequences, less illusion that the rules are or can be benign, sensible, or fair, and harsher penalties for screwing up. And people are less likely to bail you out.

    2. DailyBrad

      What are the rules (what-are-the-rules), What are the ruuuuuuuules

    3. Bagge

      Whatever the rules, you don’t get to make them. You just get to live in fear of them.

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2012/comic/book-2/06-strange-beerfellows/cereal/

  15. TheLurkerAbove

    Or as we say around these parts, you can do anything you want as long as you don’t get caught.

  16. PSadlon

    Even good kids aren’t necessarily good 24/7/365 and the reasons behind doing wrong sometimes matter more than the fact it was wrong.

    1. PB

      Adulting lesson 4!

  17. Ainara

    Adulting lesson 3: keep it classy, keep it sexy, you know how it is

  18. BenRG

    Well, Walky, you’ve done your good deed for the day, it seems!

  19. Keulen

    Adulting lesson number whatever: adulting is no fun.

  20. TemporalShrew

    Look at Jason over here, exhibiting more positive human emotions than he has the whole comic, like gratitude and joy.

    Gotta be the booze.

    1. Mordecai

      No dandruff though, he’s sobered up

      1. TemporalShrew

        Whoa, you’re right! I’ll be damned, he’s properly improving, if only just.

  21. Valerie

    I don’t think that counted as gaslighting? It was just a lie. A big lie, but not one meant to make anyone question their perception of reality, which I think is what gaslighting technically does.

    1. Joe Covenant

      Un-named bartender has had ‘her’ reality altered, surely…?
      Jason hasn’t actually been given a job at all!
      (You could argue that ‘his’ reality has also been altered, cos he’s certainly acting like he think’s he’s the bartender too!)

      1. Eldritch Gentleman

        I’d blame that on alcohol rather than any skill at manipulating people Walky might have. Still let the little guy dream, he’ll be paying for it soon enough anyway.

        1. DailyBrad

          He’s craftier than he looks. See, his handling of parent-teacher time and how he turned the situation to his advantage making a good impression with Dorothy’s parents, without a drop of booze.

          He’s got this Peter Pan complex stuff in his head, but I think there’s a pretty decent adult in there if he could polish it and realize he doesn’t have to toss out his entire personality. Just, iron out some of the stuff for proper avenues to express it.

      2. Kamino Neko

        Those first and last sentences are ill-punctuated. I had to pause after a brief ‘WTF’ moment to process that you were using quote marks for emphasis, and not questioning the bartender and Jason’s gender identities. This is a definite situation when proper use of punctuation is important…

    2. Nelly Dreadful

      Technically, I think this is more accurately qualified as a “Bavarian Fire Drill.”

  22. BenRG

    I think that the time has come for Walky to walk back to the dorms through the driving rain whilst someone plays a tenor sax in the background.

    1. Ryek Hvek

      I’ll just put this over here, then

    2. Bagge

      For Walky, making his way back to the dorm through rain has rather different associations.

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/01-the-only-dope-for-me-is-you/terrible/

      1. Bagge

        NEVER MIND, I made my self sad sharing that strip, so yeah, I think you were perfectly spot on.

  23. FacelessDeviant

    Someone will know. Lack of discretion is what got those guys there to begin with 😛

  24. Pablo360

    Adulting lesson number zero: What even are numbers

  25. Tealjoy

    The hover text, I can’t breathe hahaha

  26. abysswatcher1993

    Jason, have you watched Hamilton? So Walky doesn’t need to know the one you banged was his sister? Are you ready to make the Walkerton Pamphlet?

  27. chris73

    Walky (and Jason) could do a lot worse then having a look at this: https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/semper-virilis-a-roadmap-to-manhood-in-the-21st-century/

    1. 3oranges

      I think they could do a lot better than something that takes evolutionary psychology to mean fighting, hunting, and marriage with children – for every male, regardless of what they think is their orientation – are essential to manhood, even if it dodges some of the toxicity that suggests.

      I mean, just poking around a little, this is a source that talks about things like women as the traditional gatekeepers of sex, to be earned by men, which both ignores a lot of history and is an unhealthy way of thinking about relationships. We can do better.

      1. chris73

        Its a better path than what Jason, running from his Father, and Walky, I don’t even know what hes doing, are on right now though

        1. 3oranges

          Walky, yeah, he has no idea what he’s doing. Because he’s been very privileged, and only just realized staying a child forever won’t work out for him. But that doesn’t mean he needs to be given a single path to tough-guy fatherhood, a male counterpart of the single path Joyce came in expecting. He needs to find some kind of responsible adulthood, but there are different forms of that to suit different people.

          For Jason, this one depressing day aside, you can look at the path he actually wanted to follow. He’s not simply running from his father, but trying to make it on his own. Instead of just leaning on his inheritance, taking a risk trying to establish himself in a foreign country. Trying to become someone worthwhile to other people, someone who can help others, in the form of a good teacher. He’s been awful at actually achieving such ideals, but do the ideals themselves fall short of what’s offered there? I don’t think all the battlefield courage stuff is what he needs; what he’s actually been missing is better understanding and respect for those around him.

          I think they both might get their eventually, it’s just slow. University is partly a time to find your way, and that’s important because everyone’s way is different.

        2. chris73

          “tough-guy fatherhood”

          So you didn’t really read the whole article then

        3. Yumi

          Honestly, at that length, for a discussion of a webcomic, who would

        4. Inahc

          what, is there a shocking twist at the end? was the majority of the argument a dream all along? 😛

        5. Inahc

          …sorry, that was mean. :/

        6. SgtWadeyWilson

          …but it was also funny.

        7. 3oranges

          I actually even looked at more than the one article. Tough guy applies even if it’s careful not to suggest bullying, and apparently fatherhood is key for manhood of even gay men. Like I said, it isn’t what these characters are missing, and while it probably helps some men it’s no more of a one-size-fits-all then it was when people first started rebelling against limiting gender roles.

        8. 3oranges

          Afterthought: if there was much about listening and being more aware of the challenges and needs faced by those different from you, as Jason needed to actually be an effective helper for Sal, I definitely missed that.

      2. thejeff

        History says a lot about this and little of it good.
        For all of our current problems, actual traditional masculinity was usually far worse. There may be some floundering involved now, but it’s nothing like the “good old days”. Thankfully.

        Like you said, this guy tries to dodge the worst of the toxicity. In some ways it sounds a lot like the theoretical ideals of the old days – chivalry and all that, skimming over all the nastiness that was masked by those ideals in the real societies that created them.

        1. Doom Shepherd

          Any real society based on ideals is going to have to conceal a lot of nastiness. Idealists can be really horrible, which is why so many utopias that worked so well as philosophical treatises turned into dystopias when put into practice.

    2. thejeff

      Oh, so that’s where you’re getting the whole “We need to get back to traditional masculinity” shtick from. I’d wondered.

      So, without digging too deeply into that site, what specifically do you think Walky and Jason could learn from it? Which of their flaws would be corrected by applying those principles?
      I’m not sure either of their current dilemmas would really be addressed by taking on a more protective role towards women, for example.

      How about other characters? Would Danny benefit from some proper manliness? How about Ethan?
      Are there guys in DoA that already are on the right path?

      Or, flipping it around, are there reasons this approach couldn’t be applied to the problems the women in the cast face?

Leave a Reply to Delicious Taffy Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.