92

Class
Posted on April 12, 2011 by David M Willis
The reference images used for backgrounds in today's strip are courtesy of the esteemed Gordon McAlpin, who does the phenomenal webcomic Multiplex.  Because he is a master of photography and he was going to be in Indiana University to visit his brother, he offered to take some photographs of Read Hall for me.  There's a lot of angles that you just can't get from Google Images or Google Maps Street View!  And so he got me hundreds of images of the entire damn exterior of the building.  This was amazing and incredibly helpful. It was also really nostalgic.  I haven't been to Bloomington since 1999.  I used to live in this building.  It's nice to see it again, albeit a decade removed.  Thanks, Gordon.  My memory (and Google) only serve me so well. I recommend his first book collection.  I've got a copy, and among webcomics collections it's the cream of the crop.

92 thoughts on “Class”

  1. R

    Oh Amber!

    1. Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

      Old times…….old times.

    2. Casey

      Ogod, you’ve not been back since 99? You haven’t seen what the hipsters have done to the place.

      No wonder the Bloomington of Dumbing of Age doesn’t look as avant garde as the real thing :/

  2. Jen Aside

    I picked up a WEIGHTLIFTING CLASS

    See, ’cause Billie is FAAAAAAAT

    1. R

      What does Billie have to do with anything here? I’m very confused.

      1. R

        Ack, that’s right, Amber carried Billie last week. I forgot. My bad.

        1. dchorror

          What are you people talking about? Amazi-girl carried Billie.

        2. calendarman27

          Yeah! Amber is clearly spider car!

        3. Rowen Morland

          Isn’t Amazi-girl Billie?

        4. dchorror

          I’m not sure how that would work…

        5. madock345

          Amazi-girl/billie is immune to your Criticism of her violation of causality.

  3. Ragnal

    Is the word on her shirt…”berd”?

    1. Wackd

      Nerd, methinks.

    2. Tristan J

      Berd is the word.

      1. Joebo

        I thought everyone knew that the Bird was the word.

        1. Tristan J

          Have you heard? The word is love.

        2. das-g

          Heard is the word.

        3. alicemacher

          “Hmm…there seems to be an article missing here… a piece of a certain ornithological variety…”

        4. BriGuy

          It’s bad that I recognize that quote, isn’t it?

          “Chris, don’t you know about the bird? MEG EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT THE BIRD IS THE WORD!”

        5. Lokitsu

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WNrx2jq184

        6. Wack'd

          Sail on silver bird, have you ever HEARD THAT THE BIRD IS THE WORD?

          In a big country, dreams stay with you
          Come along with me Lucille, in my merry Oldsmobile
          We are Kids for Saving Earth
          We are fans of Colin Firth
          Off we go to yonder blue
          We really move our tails for yooooooooou…..

          Cross the wide Missouri!

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ree220FiOEg

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        I thought that Grease was the word.

        1. ilvos01

          No, Grease IS the word.

  4. NCP19

    I hope I’m not the only dork who was reminded of Sky High by Amber’s “class” comment…

  5. Vivvav

    THEY KNOW EACH OTHER OMG WTF!?!?!?!?!?
    Neat.

    1. Rognik

      We knew this already. Remember when Mike and Ethan dragged Amber out of her dorm room? And when we met her roommate, Dina, who loved hiding behind doors?

  6. Tristan J

    Yay, Ethan!

    I can’t wait to see how he is in DOA. This history implied in this strip intrigues me – how did Ethan, Amber and Mike become friends? Why do Ethan and Mike apparently hang out a fair bit?

    Excitement.

    1. Kamino Neko

      ‘Why do Ethan and Mike apparently hang out a fair bit?’

      They’re boinking. *nods sagely*

      1. Tristan J

        Your ideas intrigue me, sir.

      2. Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

        *facepalms*

        1. aydr

          You know it’s true. This Mike seems a fair amount less angry, more of a happy individual… “gayer”, if you will?

      3. Lokitsu

        Ha,ha very fun- wait, that does make a lot of sense…

  7. Wackd

    Hah.

    I didn’t get it for a moment and then I remembered they’re all freshmen.

    Also…Ethan and Amber willingly hang out with Mike? Why?

    1. MM

      Maybe Ethan got hassled for being gay in high school, which gave Mike a steady supply of people to punch?

      1. Tristan J

        That’s actually more awesome than my hypothesis, which was a less sexual version of the metaphorical crotch kick back in Shortpacked!

        Actually, maybe Ethan came out, people hassled him, Mike used it to leverage a relationship with him, then dumped him, but now they’re cool for some reason.

        1. MM

          Or heck, maybe they’re still going out. It is a different universe.

        2. Tristan J

          That would be one hella awesome twist.

    2. SB

      From all I’ve read of this universe, Mike isn’t as big of a dick as he has been in previous ‘verses. I dunno, I mean he could be, but I’ve seen nothing major so far that would make me think otherwise. It’s totally expected that something will happen, but we’ve yet to see.

      Of course, it’s 3 in the goddamn morning right now for me, so maybe I’m blanking on stuff.

      1. Lunchbox

        Well yeah, what you’ve got to remember is that Mike in this universe wasn’t dragged away from his family for heavy-combat training and fighting aliens to the death, and watching his comrades die. He’s got less reason to be traumatised, and less reason to be a dick. DA! Mike is just a freshman with a douchebag streak.

  8. Wackd

    Also–MULTIPLEX IS THE SHIT AND YOU ARE AWESOME FOR PLUGGING IT.

  9. Joebo

    18yr old Ethan is weird looking.

    1. David

      I draw him exactly the same. Hell, he’s wearing the same shirt here that he did in Shortpacked! last week.

      1. calendarman27

        Yeah, but its probably just the psycological aspect of it, seeing him out of context could be a little wierd when we know him as a late twenty something

        1. David

          Oh, SP! Ethan is 31.

      2. Null Set

        I was just going to mention that he looked too old to be a freshman to me.

    2. Mathew

      hah your icon’s face is perfect

  10. meanderling

    An entire strip with Mike in it, where he behaves completely within the bounds of social conventions?

    My mind, it is blown. I think this Mike is actually far more alarming than any Mikes that have come before.

  11. calendarman27

    i’m intrigued by what mike was like in highschool, well i mean he was probably an asshole but to who? I want to see the origins of mike, his first jerky comment, the first mom he did for a nickel!

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      He ould did mums for a nickel when he grew up, back in highschool, he would have done them for a penny, inflation you know.

  12. Andrew Davis

    Just for the record, I’d be willing to take reference shots if you need em’. I’m here at IU. My photography isn’t the best but I’d still be willing to help if you needed!

  13. Brandon

    LOL I WONDER WHO THAT IS!!

  14. Plasma Mongoose

    You need surgery to get that Gameboy thingy off Amber.

    1. Malph

      I think that’s a phone.

  15. The Inedible Frogboy

    Amber’s shirt says GERD. She got it at a Prilosec booth at a job fair.

  16. Dahlia

    : D I always liked this trio!

  17. Kiwii

    Maybe it’s just the face full of sandwhich, but Ethan looks… hefty.

  18. gangler

    Wait, so her schedule is the same every day? They do that at some colleges? That’s crazy. My timetable is just a complete casserole of madness. Monday goes twelve hours, tuesday has a single one hour class in the afternoon, wednesday starts at noon and takes me to the evening and then I got to get up at 6am on thursday.

    I thought that was just how it was in postsecondary. A college that allows for a consistent sleep schedule. That just blew my mind. I mean hell, with something like that I wouldn’t be an the kind of position where doing homework on wednesday means going to school sleepless on thursday. I really don’t even know what to think about this.

    They’re talking about it like it’s the norm. Am I the odd one out here?

    1. Fark

      Actually, I read it to mean that ‘last Monday, you didn’t have a class at this time of day,’ implying that today was the next Monday.

      1. gangler

        It’s apparently the third day of classes on the first week of school. I wouldn’t have known either if Willis hadn’t mentioned it in the comments section yesterday. Since we’ve now established that they had classes on monday, assuming that they wouldn’t refer to yesterday by the day of the week, I guess right now it’s wednesday in DoA. The more you know.

        Anyway, yeah. That’s why I’m reading it as this last monday, under the assumption that today’s (wednesday’s?) classes would match those of the monday.

        1. Pat

          At my college, classes were typically either Tuesday and Thursday for 1.5 – 2 hours each; Monday and Wednesday for 1.5 – 2 hours each; or Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for 1 hour each.
          Thus, they would expect her Wednesday schedule to look a lot like (or be identical to) her Monday schedule unless she had something unusual like a class that only met once a week on Wednesday.

    2. Emily

      Yeah, some colleges schedule more like high school, where you have the same classes every day. I don’t think it’s terribly common anymore? My college did that for my first three years there (this was Fall ’99 – Spring ’02) and then they switched the semesters up a little and started doing MWF classes and TTh classes.

      I think that all made sense. I just woke up.

      1. gangler

        That’s absolutely crazy. I had no idea. Heck, even the mwf/TTh system would be pretty cool. There’s some degree of structure to it. Just alternating between two schedules basically. Every day is unique for me >.<

        I seriously can't believe I didn't know this, though it's reassuring to know that the highschool type schedule isn't the norm. I don't know what I would have done if I found out everyone else was doing this DoA style and I was just at the only college with no clue how to make a timetable convenient.

        1. begbert2

          At my college most of the classes were MWV or TTh, with *just* enough single-day, MTWF, WSat, ThF, etc classes scattered around to completely hose up your schedule if you let them.

          I assume that most other colleges are the same way, what with me and my experience being the center of the universe and all.

        2. Lokitsu

          What day of the week is V?

        3. begbert

          Vriday.

  19. luke

    I’m probably wrong by a fair margin, but the strip gives off the vibe of Mike talking more in this strip than he has in all the rest combined!

  20. James Rye

    I swear this cannot be Mike. He must be Headalien who hides in a Mikerobot, doing his plan for world domination or something like that. It would make more sense than a Mike which behaves social? This universe is CRAZY! 8D

    1. Jon

      Mike is messing with your through the 4th wall. He’s just that much of a douche.

  21. Lunchbox

    I want Amber’s shirt so bad.

    1. begbert2

      There are probably place you could get a ‘LERD’ shirt made, you know.

      1. ADHadh

        But what if one wants it with its contents?

  22. fit-to-freak

    Awww. Mike cares.
    (sorry, AmberxMike is my shortpacked OTP. It carries over some.)

    1. a random reader

      My unhealthy adoration of AmberxMike would like to agree.

  23. Aslee

    0.0. Ok, so yesterday, at nine o’ clock, I was shutting off my laptop to go read an actual book. My thoughts? “I wish they’d put Ethan back in DoA… SP! just isn’t enough anymore.”

    You, sir, are a mind reader… Webcomic artists just get all the danged talents, don’t they? 😛

  24. Kelsey

    Amber: Text: Mike, pass the salt.

    1. Pat

      Shortly after my friends first discovered AOL Instant Messenger I was at dinner with three of them; they were all chatting on their laptops and I was not.
      After a while, I rolled my eyes, told them I was leaving, and started to do so.
      When I realized that none of them had seemed to notice, I returned the table, pulled out my laptop, and sent each of them an IM telling them that I was leaving; they all looked up.

  25. arjay2813

    in panel 1 it looks like mike is opening a mcdonald’s container, which looks empty, and in the last panel it is also empty. is he anorexic or something? after reading some other posts (kamino neko’s comes to mind) perhaps they are sharing food

    1. Loki

      I would suspect that he’d already eaten and he was closing it in order to throw it away, and then let it flop open again when Amber arrived, paying attention to her.

  26. Romanticide

    For some reason I am guessing either wasn’t abused by her father, or Stacy realized earlier and divorced amber’s dad really, really early in their marriage.
    Ethan seems to be more sociable this time around than when he was in shortpacked at this age…
    And Mike… is just most subtle at being Mike.

  27. Max

    In Amber’s hand, see the little camera in the corner? That, my friends, is a DSi

    1. David

      It’s a phone.

    2. BriGuy

      Yeah, I thought so at first too, but take a look at the front screen in the first panel; also notice the rounded edges in the second panel. My guess is she’s playing Angry Birds.

      1. Kamino Neko

        Nah. Tweeting about how she was TOTALLY in class 5 minutes ago, and not stalking a crazy ex-cheerleader in costume. A costume she totally doesn’t have, she hastens to add.

  28. Max

    …Okay, so it’s a phone. I can’t always be right.

  29. Chrisby

    Nice pun there, Amber.

  30. Jimmy

    I’m sorry I just love that they are best friends.

  31. Lokitsu

    I love how Mike and Ethan have the exact same expression!

  32. ilvos01

    Does anyone else think Mike’s comment was a bit Stalker-ish? maybe he has a crush.

  33. Dave

    I have a NERD shirt, too!

  34. Maycroft

    Some things just never change.

  35. Kiggy

    Amber sure is cute <3

  36. Plume

    The place they are at in this strip reminds me of a location at the back of the Library at Indiana University East, the building’s design looks really similar

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