270

Chaser
Posted on April 22, 2011 by David M Willis
This is the last strip of this storyline.  Monday begins "Media Rumble."

270 thoughts on “Chaser”

  1. Jen Aside

    Joyce has an affinity for SITCOMS

  2. knowwonattawl

    Here’s betting Sarah finds out Ethan is gay before Joyce does.

    1. Gnoka

      Seconded.

    2. arjay2813

      i agree

    3. Darth Shadow

      Oh, but where’s the fun in that?

      I want to see Joyce work it out herself, just to see her reaction.

      1. Gnoka

        I think Sarah will hint at it heavily, and when Joyce remains oblivious she’ll just tell her.

        1. Ancestral Hamster

          Yes, I think you are right. Sarah will warn Joyce off out of decency’s sake, trying to prevent another disaster, but Joyce will cause said disaster anyway.

        2. You

          Honestly, I don’t think Joyce even knows gay’s an option. Telling her might literally blow her mind.

        3. RandomPerson12

          Yeah, and she still won’t comprehend it

      2. Seraph

        Joyce will not work it out. Not unless she actually catches him in flagrante delicto with another boy (a project for Mike, perhaps?). The chances that she’s ever met a real, live gay person (who wasn’t severely closeted) is virtually nil, and her idea of what a gay person looks like probably involves pink hotpants, a handlebar moustache, a feather boa and a lisp. Or maybe rubber. Lots of rubber. A quiet, moderate, non-flamboyant fellow like Ethan? She’d never believe it. Literally. If told by anyone but Ethan himself, she will defend him against the vile slander, and if she is told by Ethan himself, she’ll assume he just hasn’t met the right woman and start planning something similar to the Parent Trap thing she had in mind for Joe.

    4. Zachinhat

      Does Sarah have Willis on twitter?

      1. Seraph

        Good point. Have Sarah and Ethan even met?

        1. Rognik

          I think Sarah is one of the least seen characters, for a character whose been around since Roomies. Since Ethan only got introduced in Shortpacked, I’d be surprised if she met him in any universe (that we know of).

    5. creativerealms

      Seeing how Sarah plays the sane one most of the time I think it’s obvous she will figure out Ethan is gay first.

    6. XLR

      Oh I sense shenanigans!

  3. David Herbert

    Yep, she’s crushing. Hilarity shall ensue, and possibly a cat fight with Amber.

    1. Dahlia

      >////<;; I DON'T want this to happen, but I have a feeling something along these lines will… v.v;;;

      I love Joyce to pieces (well, when she outgrew her psycho) but I don't think she'll be as understanding as Amber…

      1. Seraph

        You mean when she outgrows her psycho? It hasn’t happened yet. Or are you talking about It’s Walky?

        1. Dahlia

          I’m talking about It’s Walky! ^^;;

  4. Trae Dorn

    Thankfully, Joe isn’t a Transformers collector in this Universe, so the similarities end at tall and Jewish. 😛

    1. dchorror

      How do we know he’s not?

      1. Ancestral Hamster

        We don’t. Nobody would have know I was a miniatures wargamer in my freshman year of college since I left my armies at my parents’ house. (Wouldn’t have done any good anyway. Found RPG groups but no minis groups.) If Ethan is a toy collector in the DoA-verse, he probably had to do the same, bringing only a few favorites for his desk

        1. Ridureyu

          I had a shelf in my dorm room with random monsters on it. It… was popular with the girls. Seriously. They wanted to come see my shelf.

          WHY CAN’T THIS STILL BE THE CASE?

      2. Trae Dorn

        Word of Willis has said as much – that Ethan will still be a toy collector, and that since having two tall, jewish toy collectors would be weird, he was just going to excise that from DoA Joe.

        Heck, two Jewish guys in Indiana is weird enough already. 😛

    2. Bekah

      Tall jewish and gay. And we don’t know if he’s a toy collector yet. I bet he is.

      1. bramblepatch

        Yeah, but “gay” isn’t a trait that Ethan and Joe have in common, unless Joe is pretty deeply closeted.

        1. Trae Dorn

          I’ve always had this theory…

          …but I always assume every character created by David Willis is secretly gay.

        2. William

          Not a bad strategy.

        3. Random832

          Your theory fails on Ethan, if “secretly” is a requirement.

        4. Trae Dorn

          That’s only because he’s secretly SUPER gay.

        5. gangler

          Lol. That would be overcompensation at its’ finest. The reactions alone would be priceless.

        6. Bekah

          I totally misread that comment and thought we were talking about Ethan here… my bad.

  5. Plasma Mongoose

    Joyce sure knows how to make some interesting FAAAACCCCCEEEEEESSSS.

    1. Henry

      So does her mom. For a nickel.

      1. Bekah

        I think there’s supposed to be a “With his penis” joke after this, but I can’t figure out how to make it work.

        1. Adem

          Viagra is said to work.

        2. Henry

          You win.

    2. Cranberrier

      Panel 1 Joyce wants your blood.

      1. Henry

        She wants your marriage.

        1. Cranberrier

          If there’s anything Twilight fangirls have taught me, it’s that they’re not mutually exclusive.

        2. Rognik

          I thought vampire-lovers want to BE sucked. If she wants to do the sucking… *shudders*

        3. Henry

          Clearly, Joyce is a vampire.

  6. arjay2813

    DoA Joyce needs to find someone she hates and starts dating him to finally find someone that will fit in her ultrastrict list of acceptable boyfriend material. to bad walky is moar interested in Dorothy

  7. Gnoka

    So… has Sarah smiled yet… or ever for that matter?

    1. Tunasammich

      Eww, are you one of those guys who tells random women on the street to smile? Protip: that is annoying

      1. Gnoka

        Nah, I’d just like to see something good happen to Sarah soon.

        1. xo

          something good ? she just seems realistic to me.. not down on her luck or anything

        2. Tunasammich

          Wait! She is smiling in the site banner, the one you see every time you encounter this website–that should count for something!

        3. bloodgun

          That’s really more of a smirk and I’m not sure that counts as a proper smile.

      2. James

        That’s actually something people do?

        1. AddleBoy

          It’s funny because I’m a guy and a lot of times random women I don’t know tell me to smile. It is annoying.

        2. Hannover Fist

          Is this a southern thing? I live in New England and I’ve never observed this behavior.

        3. AddleBoy

          I don’t know. Maybe. I’m from Missouri.

    2. Kendra

      She’s been smiling since DoA started!
      (Hint: the banner)

      1. Gnoka

        Well darn, I guess you got me there.

      2. Chrisby

        Also this:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/01-move-in-day/punch/

      3. Tunasammich

        Remind me to read the whole comment thread before commenting, since I can’t delete posts. Also, Chrisby owned this whole train of thought

      4. bloodgun

        That’s really more of a smirk and I’m not sure that counts as a proper smile.

    3. David

      I’ve done some strips in the upcoming month in which she’s smiled, though it’s all sarcastic smiles.

      1. dchorror

        But those are the fun ones.

      2. Joebo

        Jeez man, SPOILER ALERT!

        1. Cha

          Your avatar makes this comment amazing.

        2. KZero

          So does the fact that yours is looking up at it placidly.

    4. Turkey Lurkey

      According to Hall & Oates, yes she does occasionally, but you have to ask her nicely.

      TL

    5. lost_limey

      Curse you Hall & Oates! (My association with “Sarah” + “Smile”)

  8. John

    Joyce’s response is the best response.

  9. Henry

    aaaaaand hilarity ensues.

  10. Tunasammich

    I love it! As unleavened bread. All y’all Sarah haters have no taste.

    1. MM

      Y’know what else has no taste? Unleavened bread.

      (What? I’m Jewish. It’s true.)

      1. Tunasammich

        Hahaha!

      2. James

        If it’s anything at all like the stuff Catholics use for Communion Wafers, I can vouch for this. Stuff tastes like cardboard.

        1. daughterofthestars

          That stuff is shit. No way it’s bread. My parent’s church now serves what are basically Styrofoam wafers on communion.

          The church we went to when I was little had home-made unleavened bread that was sliced up into bite-sized pieces. I remember hanging around behind the scenes for clean up and having handfuls of it with the leftover grape juice.

        2. Rognik

          Not Jewish, but live in a Jewish building. Matza gets delivered to my door every passover, for some reason or another. (The mezuza “beard” on my door might help.) It… kinda tastes like a cracker. And having taken the styrofoam wafers Catholics try to pass off as bread (not Catholic, either), I can tell you that the matza is better.

        3. Ruban

          well, yeah, its the body of christ and all. they didnt exactly have any good preservatives back then, so its gotten a bit stale over the past 2000 years

      3. lost_limey

        Lies! Matzo Pizza is teh shit

        1. Mary Sue

          And Matzo Ball Soup is the best. >>>>> Than Chicken Noodle.

          Yum.

  11. The Sound Defense

    Next, Joyce goes for Ronald Reagan.

    1. Parismio

      That reminds me. Is Ronnie gonna show up anytime soon?

      1. bramblepatch

        Seeing as DoA is defined by the absence of the sci-fi elements of the Walkiverse, I’m going to go with “no.” Maybe you missed it, but Reagan has been dead for some time now.

        1. Undrave

          Look-alike political science teacher?

  12. Tristan J

    “They call me the Jew Chaser.”

    1. dchorror

      Not the Converter?

      1. MeHael

        It would take a double conversion with Ethan.

    2. lost_limey

      The pompetous of love?

  13. Bishop

    Oh, I get it. It’s funny because Ethan’s gay.

    1. dchorror

      I don’t know, I think it’s funnier that she keeps jumping after guys for their looks, not someone she knows anything about.

      1. Seraph

        Actually, she keeps jumping after any guy who speaks with her. We haven’t met any truly unattractive guys yet, so we don’t know how she’d react to one.

        But yeah, you’re right about the funny. I’ve heard of going to college to get your MRS, but Joyce is taking the shotgun approach.

        1. MeHael

          Wally grabbed the shotgun and pointed it away from him by mocking her approach. She hasn’t gone after Mike yet either.

        2. dchorror

          That probably means she has a sense of self preservation.

        3. gangler

          Only guy she didn’t go for was walky, and he started putting down her most central values and life aspirations the moment he opened his mouth. Basically struck himself out of her books the same way Joe did but at record breaking speeds.

    2. Bekah

      Ethan’s gay? What?

      Sorry… lol

  14. Ridureyu

    Joyce is so going to go insane.

    1. Rognik

      Going? Even disregarding Roomies! version, Joyce is kinda loony. She’s just able to hide it well, like me.

      1. Ridureyu

        I’m thinking Dark Joyce insane.

        1. Rognik

          Bah. That’s just regular Joyce with a libido. I think. I’d need to read the archives again.

      2. Hannover Fist

        In what way is she hiding her lunacy? People like her need to be watched, preferably from a safe distance.

  15. Dahlia

    OH CRAP!!!

  16. Dierna

    Well at least she’s become more accepting of Jewish people…..now for the hilarity of her finding about gays!

    1. Seraph

      Her attitude toward Jews hasn’t changed. They were always God’s Chosen People…who still needed to be converted. Trust me, if she ever has an intimate conversation with Ethan, it will be spent talking about Jesus.

  17. xo

    ethan will be clueless to her advances / joyce will think hes just decent and not rushing things ?

  18. Semysane

    Who’s this Ethan guy? He’s straight, right?

  19. Stoogey

    Kudos on the perfectly-timed Passover jokes!

  20. Plasma Mongoose

    IIRC the plagues afflicted the Egyptians not God’s Chosen People… just saying!

    1. Bekah

      You do not recall correctly. The plagues affected everyone in Egypt, not just the Egyptians. The people who didn’t spread lambs blood on their doors on the night of the tenth plague (as instructed by Moses) were visited by the angel of death, who took their first born sons. The Israelites who did as they were told were passed over (hence Passover) by the angel.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I guess I don’t recall as well as I thought, it has been decades since I went to a christain school. I do also remember learning about the evils of backward masking and how the last of the dinosaurs were wiped out by knights back in the Dark ages in Sabbath school.

        1. Hannover Fist

          Forgive my ignorance (I come from a non-religious family) but what’s “backward masking”?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          in the 1960s=80s, “Backward masking” was the theory that when you play music or speech backwards, you will here the real subtext of what was spoken/sung.

          They believed back then that your brain unconsciously processed verbal information this way.

          The church school I went to believed that Satan subtlely manipulated people who sang these songs to sing them in such a way that a Satanic subtext would result and thus brainwash you to do bad things like smoke dope and worship the Devil.

          You gotta love private education!

        3. Hannover Fist

          Wow.

      2. James

        I’d swear I remember something in Exodus about the plagues missing the Hebrews. It’s very possible I’m mistaken, though.

        1. daughterofthestars

          Either way, it’s not something that Sarah would be highly versed in. She may not be completely accurate, but that doesn’t take the funny out of the joke.

      3. Commander Clash

        Actually the hailstones, gadflies, lice, disease of crops also didn’t affect the Isrealites. The only ones that would’ve were the Nile transformating into blood, the death of the firstborn(which was averted to any Isrealite who painted there door posts and crossbar with lamb’s blood), the frogs and the plague of darkness.

        1. George

          I’ve always wondered about the frogs. How was that a plague, again?

        2. Commander Clash

          Frogs were considered an “unclean” creature in many cultures including the Egyptians and Isrealites. There was also the fact that would you want thousands of frogs hopping around from everywhere. Imagine maxing dough for baking and suddenly having frogs hopping through it or the slimy little buggers hopping around in your bed. Also, the ten plagues have a basis in fact, further upstream on the Nile the Nubians of Kush, who were annexed by the Egyptains decades before have papyrus scrolls detailing the same plagues further upstream. People say the Exodus didn’t happen because the Egyptians didn’t record it. But they, like any “great” civilization, didn’t record when they lost.

        3. David

          The lack of records aren’t the only thing that calls the credibility of the Exodus story into account. Archeology puts the Hebrew society solidly in Canaan for basically forever. Similarly, there’s no evidence of any Israelites on the Sinai Peninsula, despite there allegedly having been millions of them wandering it in circles for 40 years. Not a single piece of pottery. The Exodus story is also full of anachronisms. For example, at the time of the Exodus story, Egypt *owned* Canaan. It was their land, part of their empire. Fleeing there wouldn’t have been fleeing at all. It’d be like trying to evade the United States government by killing everybody in every city in the Pacific Northwest.

          Neat story, though. If you like gruesome stuff.

  21. sreiches

    Mm… Pesach references.

    Timely.

  22. DaveSilver

    This comic gets better and better every day. Keep up the great work.

  23. Angafirith

    I thought you did these things pretty far in advance. Did you know that it was going to be passover when this thing ran?

    1. David

      I do them roughly a month in advance, but heck if I know when Passover is. I didn’t even know this weekend was Easter until like Monday. (At which point it’s pretty damn easy to guess when Passover is, but you get the idea.) I stopped paying attention to Passover/Easter back when I stopped having Spring Break.

      1. dchorror

        Spring Break happens at Easter? Mine was like a month and a half ago.

        1. DrDVD

          my spring break has always started in february

        2. Commander Clash

          Ditto, thought up here in my part of Canada it’s termed as “mid-winter break”.

        3. dchorror

          My last year of high school, I had both a mid winter break and a spring break.

        4. bramblepatch

          Where I live, everyone highschool and younger has spring break during Holy Week, but we college students had ours back during the week of St. Patrick’s Day. I believe this is because a couple of years ago, a riot broke out on campus on St. Paddy’s, so now they encourage everyone to leave town over any holiday associated with drinking to excess.

        5. Strephon

          The university in my town has Spring Break that usually overlaps with St. Patrick’s Day, which led to a local bar owner founding Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day; it’s a major pain in the ass if you’re not enamored of massive public drunkenness.

  24. DragonWings

    Can anyone tell me how to identify jewish last names? I’m always at a loss when it comes to those.

    1. MacaroniPterodactyl

      When someone else tells you it’s Jewish.

    2. Bekah

      If it’s got berg, stein, or gold in it (eg: Goldbergstein, Steinberg, Goldstein, Steingold, etc) it’s guaranteed you’re looking at a Jew. But that’s just a generalization. There’s lots of other Jewish last names (like Seigal).

      1. MM

        Cohen and Levi are also pretty good indicators, since they’re based on the Biblical priest classes (back when Jews had priests). But yeah, it’s not always obvious, especially when someone claims Jewish heritage because of…their…mom…

        …Dammit, Mike, get out of my head!

        1. sreiches

          Katz and Caplan/Kaplan are also associated with the Kohanim.

          Most surnames stereotypically associated with Jews, though, are simply Germanic or Slavic. Few (if any) are inherently Jewish, since Jews don’t, traditionally, have last names. You were simply referred to as “so-and-so son of so-and-so”.

      2. Lokitsu

        Sorry, but you’re wrong. -gold, -stein and -berg just mean that your ancestors were German.

        1. DrDVD

          well germany had a very large jewish population for a good period of time, and they tended to have certain last names. Same for the slavic regions.

    3. Henry

      Practice. Live in an area with enough Jewish people and you figure out what is and isn’t a “Jewish” last name (since sometimes there’s overlap. Smith, for instance, in my experience).

    4. Sarah

      Also names ending in “itz” or “witz”

      1. Steven

        No, that just indicates slavic origins.

    5. Dan

      Klein and Gross are pretty common too: Story goes that when the Jews of Germany were forced to get last names, their only choices (unless they were wealthy) were determined by appearance: hence, Klein (short), Gross (tall), light (weiss), and whatever the word for dark is, i forget.

      1. witwicky

        dunkel?

  25. Gabe

    That is disturbing. And I’m sure that some people’s minds DO work like that. 30 second conversation equals dreams of marriage!?

    I mean, 30 seconds is long enough to visualize da bumpin’ of uglies, but holy matrimony? Hrm.

    1. Rognik

      Oh, Joyce wants to marry him. She wants to marry him hard and fast and several times. (What? Her mind is still pretty censored.)

      1. Rikushadow5

        Your mom was married for a nickel.

        1. Henry

          With his penis.

        2. Rikushadow5

          Indeed it was.

        3. Henry

          With my penis.

        4. Henry

          Damn. Double post. Ignore whichever doesn’t work. Or whichever does work. Whatever.

      2. Loquat

        Joyce has vowed to woo, win, and wed Ethan… and wed him most vigorously.

        1. Random Webcomics Junkie

          And the fanfics REALLY needed that provocation.

    2. Ridureyu

      Well, think about it this way. You know how some guys will meet a girl for thirtty seconds, and then think “Man, I so wanna bang her! She’s hot!” And then obsess over it, try to smarm their way into her pants, and if it fails, go all stalker-crazy-obsessed just because of that li’l erection at the beginning?

      Joyce is pretty much the same thing, only she has no “sex” drive, per se. Sex is icky and wrong. MARRIAGE IS AWESOME, though, because marriage has nothing to do with sex. Marriage is all about washing the dishes and reading the newspaper and smoking a pipe and living in sepia tones. Thus, “Man, I so wanna marry him.” Same deal, likely with the inherently disturbing stalker overtones.

      And the marriage-stalker thing? I can think of one girl in college who decided that WE WERE TO BE MARRIED within five minutes of meeting me. When it reached the point where she was throwing things at my dorm window and having private chats with my professors, I brought it to campus security. People are crazy.

  26. NF

    I just got a hilarious image of Joyce asking Ethan out on a date, only he doesn’t realize it’s a date, and Joyce asks Mike to chaperon again, and Mike “forgets” to inform Joyce that Ethan is gay, or Ethan that it is a date. This of course leads to an awkward double reveal, followed by Mike saying, “This is awkward…just like prom night!” To which Ethan responds, “Goddammit Mike!”

    I am very tempted to write a fan-fic in which this happens, and I have never written a fan-fic in my life.

    1. dchorror

      It’s easy, just write. You already have a solid idea, just fill in the details.

    2. MacaroniPterodactyl

      With your penis. For a nickel.

    3. Joebo

      Do not fall for the Fan-Fic trap. Down that path lies angst and the poorly written prose of Stephanie Meyer.

      1. Ancestral Hamster

        What about the thousands of dollars in royalties Stephanie Meyer is getting? Write the fan-fic NF, write the fan-fic!

        (Although don’t be disappointed if you don’t get thousands of dollars in royalties. After all, DoA is David Willis’ intellectual property.)

        1. daughterofthestars

          I was writing stuff just like Twilight with my characters when I was 14. I should have gotten it published, maybe then I’d be rich.

        2. CWR

          And happy – don’t forget: rich = happy.

      2. dchorror

        Not all fanfics are drivel.

        1. Hannover Fist

          Indeed. On a related note, the Walkyhammer40K fic I’m working on should be a good one. Especially Joyce as an inquisitor.

        2. Squeeeble

          I really hope you’re not joking about that. I want to see that so hard.

        3. Hannover Fist

          No joke. I just started on the bit about Joyce’s career as an inquisitor. I want you to imagine panel one Joyce saying “light your way through the darkness with the fires of burning heretics!”

        4. Hannover Fist

          Damn, I meant pyres. Also, Joe will be a Slaanesh cultist.

    4. Jillian

      DO IT

    5. Malph

      Go for it. The horrors Joebo speaks of only befall those who turn to the dark side of fan fic writing.

      It starts with a serious attempt at a romantic story. Then, before you know it, you’re writing AU High School Fics that have next to nothing to do with the original work.

      But that shouldn’t be a problem for you.

      1. MacaroniPterodactyl

        Isn’t this basically an AU High School Fic that has nothing to do with the original work? 😉

        Obviously I’m kidding here.

        1. Rognik

          No, this is the AU College. Much classier, as they’re all legal.

          (Also, if the original creator does it, it’s canon.)

      2. Undrave

        Oh god the AU High School! Its even worse when its a AU High School CROSSOVER with ORIGINAL CHARACTERS… oh the horrors! THE HORRORS!

    6. Ryune

      I think Ethan taking the Lord’s name in vain would offend Joyce more than his being a fancier of men.

    7. ryan

      mike has to get amber to show up and see ethan and joyce on their “date”. fighting ensues between them all, followed by hot love-making.

    8. Random Webcomics Junkie

      @NF – this actually sounds like a plausible prediction. Except because of Joyce’s traditionalist views which almost certainly extend to gender roles, she might maneouvre HIM into asking HER instead.

  27. Lee

    Yoink.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Nice pouty ava.

    2. KZero

      This is the Faz-iest face I can recall seeing on Joyce.

      1. MM

        If Faz does turn up in this ‘verse, I think I want him to develop a crush on Joyce now. It would be hilarious.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          But would he stad a chance at getting with Joyce or would his Faz nature scare her off?

      2. Joebo

        This comment thread needs another Joyce Gravatar!

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Joyce sure does inspire some outragous looking gravatars doesn’t she?

  28. Ancestral Hamster

    “Maybe you’re there eleventh plague.” Great line. Got a loud snort from me. If Sarah was real, I’d date her, although the combined snark could get thick.

    1. Lee

      Sarah is great, but all of the strips she’s in are focused on Joyce. Here’s hoping she gets more personal screen time in the future.

      1. agentksilver

        +1 She’s been the character I’ve been most excited about since day one. Billy’s grown in my affections, but it’s time for some Sarah in my opinion.

      2. Ancestral Hamster

        Good point. “Story arc for Sarah! Story arc for Sarah!”

      3. begbert2

        Wasn’t there a strip or three were she was getting crap for turning in her druggie roommate?

        1. Rognik

          Then later, when all the trays mysteriously disapeared… Then again, I guess she was discussing Joyce then. Disregard.

  29. meanderling

    Maybe she just has a thing for Jewish toy collectors?

  30. Kurai_Seraphim

    Was it intentional to end the story arc called the Bechdel test with two girls talking about a guy?

    1. Jetstream

      If it wasn’t, it should have been. And Willis should say he planned it that way the whole time.

  31. Parismio

    Testing testing… has “The Talented” gravatar appeared?

    1. Parismio

      Damn….How about now?

      1. Rikushadow5

        It seems to just be “The Talent”, Steven Stills.

        1. Parismio

          yeah i know. maybe in the digital worlds of computers can gravatars become talented.

  32. Kater

    How many unsuitable guys will Joyce crush over before she loses faith in herself and/or men? I think three, or one after Ethan tells her he’s gay.

    1. Dr. Alex Horrible

      Seven. Don’t ask how I know, I just do.

      Poor Joyce. She’s not very lucky, is she?

      1. daughterofthestars

        Lucky 7 was a good movie. As far as romantic comedies go.

  33. Locke

    No! Bad Joyce! Sit! Stay! Don’t crush on the gay guy! Roll over!

  34. Shift

    That first panel of Joyce walking in? That’s some nightmare fuel right there. That looks like the face of someone who’s got a pit in the basement and likes making skirts out of human skin. Add to that, she’s already adding his last name to her name after a 30 second conversation… I hear the psycho soundtrack in my head everything she’s in panel.

    I’m very much looking forward to seeing her crash and burn again. Although I’m also worried about how this is going to go down. With any luck, she’ll only be disappointed that Ethan is gay and not interested in dating. But considering how she has a habit of either being judgmental or unintentionally rude, I’m kinda expecting the worse case scenario again. Hopefully this time it’ll end without the boy being beaten.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      You can almost imagine Joyce setting up a stalker shrine with a FACCCEEE like that.

    2. Rikushadow5

      I think ya mean “Crush and Burn”.

      There’s also the possibility she’ll go Right-Wing Christian Extremist, and say that being Gay is against “The Lord’s Will” or something. It is Joyce.

      Then again, it’s Joyce. You’re not 100% on what’ll happen until about 20 seconds after it’s already happened.

    3. Seraph

      I suspect it will. Her hiring an ultraviolent “chaperone” who ended up beating Joe senseless for his dirty thoughts is in the slapstick tradition, as is her joining in the beating out of jealousy. In a comic like this, which makes some pretense toward realism, it made her pretty unsympathetic, but not irretrievably so.

      Having the fundamentalist Christian girl arrange for the gay man to get beat up? I don’t think there’s a way to make that funny, and I don’t think Joyce’s character would be redeemable after that.

      1. daughterofthestars

        Yeah, with Joe it seemed okay because he was thinking about girls, and he’s a bit of a player. In some ways it’s like his just desserts. She went out with him to convert him to her side, but he went out to convert him to his side – the side where he gets to bang her. To some, that’s a pretty good reason for a little bit of punching.

        But Ethan? No way. I think this time Joyce will be more hurt than offended, and might actually do some serious thinking.

        1. Shift

          You’re probably right. Because Ethan will do his best to let her down softly, and try not to rub it in her face.

          But that wouldn’t exactly stop Mike form beating Ethan. After all, it’s not a hate crime, if he beats everyone the same.

      2. Rikushadow5

        I wasn’t thinking Physical abuse, I just thought she’d be indignant about it, or maybe claim “he’s hiding his true feelings” or something. Not EVERYTHING is about violence.

        1. Seraph

          I was responding to shift. S/he was the one who brought up the beatings.

        2. Shift

          Unless Mike is involved.

  35. Zap

    Wait, is Ethan gay here?

    1. Rikushadow5

      That was established in the conversation between Amber, Mike, and Ethan in the last few strips.

    2. Jackson

      Ethan is gay everywhere.

      1. Hannover Fist

        With his penis.

    3. Plasma Mongoose

      Well he seems happy enough most of the time, so I would have to say YES.

  36. DrDVD

    David Willis, can you get boobs disease?

    Also how can you start a new storyline, this cliff hanger is cruel and unusual and just proves how good you are at what you do : P

    1. Alex

      Been reading QC?

    2. gangler

      Between the two of them they could create the greatest comic ever. “Jeph, you handle the asses, I’ll get the boobs, and together we’ll RULE THE WORLD!!!”

      1. Rognik

        A new league of evil comic creators? I believe the old group disbanded and/or drifted apart.

        Also, since a new storyline here just means new day, we’ll be revisiting this soon enough…

  37. Leland

    Uhhhh, not to get all technical and all, but the EGYPTIANS got hit with the Ten Plagues, not the Jews.

  38. Jackson

    And now, the slow painful unfolding of the inevitable.

    1. Revieloutionne

      Emphasis on the “slow.”

  39. Aydr

    hm. I wonder what’s going to happen with Ethan’s sexuality… will Drew be around, will we get a new gay character, is someone else gay in this universe, or is he going to be hopelessly single?

  40. XLR

    And this is where everyone in the fucking universe says “CALLED IT”
    since we all knew Joyce would do this.

    Also she looks insane in the first panel

    1. bloodgun

      Things tend to look like what they are.

  41. Ozzmandius

    I look forward to seeing how this is going to turn out. It can only end in hilarity.

  42. sarpiedon

    I think Joyce should walk in on Ethan bangin some duded.

    This will inevitably trigger the Anti Joyce of the DoA universe, but instead of being evil, promiscuous Joyce, she should go all Feminazi on his ass.

    1. Seraph

      “Feminazis” don’t tend to have a big problem with gays.

      1. R

        Women who hate men tend to be able to find some convoluted reason to hate almost all men, just as most misogynistic men (and women) can find reasons to hate lesbians.

        Feminists only currently have a good relationship with the GLBT community, but some second wave feminists saw lesbians in particular as the “lavender menace” or something.

        1. Seraph

          Feminists =/ women who hate men.

        2. DarkVeghetta

          Feminazis = unresonable women who hate men.
          Feminists = resonable humans that saw a problem and worked to fix it.

  43. MarkLar

    I hope Joyce thinks being gay is a sin. Maybe pull out some Leviticus 18:22 and then get told for being a bongo. It will be a growing, accepting experience for her.

    1. James

      Given her responses to Joe and Dorothy, I think it’s more likely she’d take it upon herself to help “fix” Ethan.

  44. Paul1963

    Well, I spent a bunch of time this past rainy Saturday working my way through the archives, from the last Joyce and Walky back to It’s Walky! from about May 2003, and it’s a little weird to think that the super-Christy Joyce of DoA is basically the same person as the one who lifts her shirt to get Walky’s attention in J&W.
    Of course, I also started reading the Shortpacked! archives from the beginning and was surprised to see that Robin still had super-speed when she started working at the store. But it’s still great to have this huge archive to wade through, and if I could keep the pre-Crisis DC Multiverse straight I should be able to get this sorted in time…

    1. Rognik

      Check out the Roomies! archive. I think you’d have little doubt then, and considering J&W was 10+ years of character development…

  45. Robert in San Diego

    After that comment from Sarah, I almost quiver in anticipation of what Willis is going to uncork for Passover.

    1. Indigo

      I think it’s already been uncorked.

  46. Angelicfiend

    Run Ethan! run away from the crazy!!

  47. Indigo

    Hee, It’s funny ’cause it’s Passover.

  48. TEi

    Man, Joyce is batting 0 for 2. First a Jewish womanizer, now a gay Jew…sorry honey, your future husband is in another castle.

  49. Stolen

    as a jew myself, i find this comic EXTREMELY entertaining. who would have thought an 11th plague would have come back to haunt us?

  50. thisISNTsparta

    Haha, didn’t see that coming

  51. jdb1984

    About the plagues: Some of the early ones did affect both, but then God started sending them only to the Egyptins.

  52. saturnwonder

    I love reading everyone’s comments lol ^.^

    Found this comic on accident while reading another one, and it must be in the writings of the cosmos that it happened. Love the comic, favorite character so far has to be Walky. Banzai for all of the manga and cartoon nerds out there!! 😀

    1. Ancestral Hamster

      Welcome! Leave your sanity at the door! 😀

      1. saturnwonder

        I have sanity? Woah awesome 😀

        And how awesome is this still?! I have Monkey Master for an avatar!! *does a dance*

    2. DarkVeghetta

      ONE OF US
      ONE OF US
      ONE OF US
      @_@

  53. Plasma Mongoose

    If Joyce really is the 11th plague, would covering yourself in lamb’s blood prevent Joyce from ‘crushing’ on you?

    1. Ancestral Hamster

      Yes, but only as long as you are covered in lamb’s blood. The proper method is to have a (seemingly) eligible bachelor with you, whereupon she will immediately “crush” on him, and pass you over.

      Yea, verily, and unto the seventh generation and all that.

      1. Rognik

        Or splash her with the lamb’s blood. That’s sure to kill the mood.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          True enough, girls just don’t seem to like that sort of thing… I got no idea why thou. 😛

        2. Hannover Fist

          What about Twilight fangirls?

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          Damn! I forgot Joyce was also a Twilight fan.

  54. dragoduval

    she will be angry when she learn hes gay

  55. Sporkaganza

    Classic Joyce-Sarah banter here.

  56. Vaiel

    The girl likes the matzah balls, nothing wrong with that.

    1. Locke

      I see what you did there. Oy vey!

      1. knowwonattawl

        Locke, I love your Gravatar.

    2. gangler

      Lol. Puns and euphemisms. The bread and butter of internet wordplay.

  57. R

    Joyce likes ever boy who seems friendly and not threatening to her, this takes Walky and Mike out of the running.
    Walky questioned her beliefs. She’s not looking for that, it’s too threatening after being sheltered for so long.
    Mike just isn’t friendly. Sure he hasn’t been mean to her, but he’s just not a friendly person, even though he did her a favor.

    It doesn’t really matter, Joyce isn’t healthy relationship material for anything resembling a relationship between adults. She sees men as almost a thing that performs a function: man = future husband = traditional male role, etc. She’s the female religious equivalent of someone who’s Joe-like who sees women just as a means to an end (sex), which is why she’s not that interested in getting to know guys in any more than a superficial light (and she can begin thinking of marriage after a brief conversation). This strip really hits that home.

    1. Ridureyu

      Yeah, pretty much., Joyce is a parallel to Joe.

      Joe – sees women as objects for his sexual gratification. Of COURSE they’ll say yes, they’re chicks, right?

      Joyce – sees men as objects for her MRS Degree. “Of course he’ll marry me! Because that’s how I can be a success, right?”

      Note that Joyce seems to follow the (not really) Victorian ideal of “Marriage is awesome, but there won’t be any sex in it. Babies come from the refrigerator!”

      ‘Course, the Victorian Period was when men were expected to have about three mistresses at a time, although their wives had to be faithful. It’s funny how the period stressed OUTWARD modesty, but was less moral than pretty much… anytime else. I mean, I dunno, but I look at the swingers in the ’60s and ’70s, and the big difference was at least both sides got to cheat. Victorian “ethics” were just meaner about it.

  58. aaron_bourque

    Y’KNOW WHAT’S FUNNY? TAKING SOMEONE WHO’S KINDA NICE AND SWEET (and more than a little crazy, but it is usually a rather cute kind of crazy, when it’s not VIOLENT CRAZY), RIPPING OUT HER HEART AND DANCING TO THE MEXICAN HAT DANCE ON IT!!!

    Wait . . .

    1. Ridureyu

      You’ve been playing the new Mortal Kombat, haven’t you?

  59. harukohoshiko

    lol, Joyce has problems

  60. Andrew

    Finally finished reading all of Roomies, It’s Walky, Shortpacked, Dumbing of Age, and 1/3 of Joyce and Walky. What a way to spend eight days.

    1. Rognik

      Happy Passover?

  61. bloodgun

    Joyce Brown is lusting after a boy she knows nothing about and will experience heartbreak when she finds out he’s gay, this could have been avoided if she had a sassy gay friend.

    1. George

      I really want to see this video now. Actually, the Walkyverse could probably make quite a few of them.

  62. Plasma Mongoose

    I must not fear Joyce. Joyce’s logic is the mind-killer.

    Joyce’s ideas are the little-death that induces embolisms.

    I will face Joyce. I will permit Joyce’s comments to pass over me and through me.

  63. bloodgun

    I just realised that the bechdel test title could be a referrence to the fact that in this storyline no dialog between two women will be about anything except men, aside from the scene with the explanation of the bechdel test.

  64. AllyBally

    I honestly agree with sarah, i think joyce is their eleventh plague.

  65. Firekeeper

    I take slight offense at that! We Jews aren’t the only ones who eat unleavened bread, and if she were the eleventh plague, she’d be bothering the Egyptians, not us.

    1. Viktoria

      …Sarah’s parents might be Egyptian.

    2. bloodgun

      You don’t have to be jewish to have the last name seigal either but it is most commonly associated with the chosen people.

    3. Shift

      No, she would brother the Jews as well. The plagues affected those who didn’t have a red mark on their door. If a Jew didn’t put the mark on as dictated by Moses, they would suffer the same as the Egyptians.

  66. Kelsey

    First a womanizer now a gay dude? Joyce really knows how to pick ’em.

  67. Public Service Announcement

    Jokes made by characters in a fictional work are not required to be Scripturally accurate, nor does the ignorance of a character necessarily imply ignorance of the writer.

    Duh.

  68. Hari

    Haha! I want to high five Sarah. That was a classic comeback! =D

  69. newllend

    Joyce what did I tell 30 pages ago

  70. SgtNumnum

    Eleventh plague indeed

  71. Aisling

    Joyce is going to go on a plague… I mean crusade to turn Ethan straight.

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