Escape
Posted on July 23, 2013 by David M Willis

217 thoughts on “Escape”

  1. AHR

    Oh god I want to strangle him. Nicely done, Willis!

    1. Kernanator

      And betting is now closed! Thank you so very much for playing!

      1. Yotomoe

        I still say the correct answer was yesterday’s strip.

        1. Mr. Random

          No, yesterday he was random. Today he is an asshole. Randomness will be abided but assholishness shall be punished to the fullest extent of mob law.

        2. Kernanator

          Mr. Random knows where it’s at.

        3. GoldStarz

          Yesterday he was an asshole too, we just didn’t know because it was but a prelude of the assholier things to come.

    2. GoldStarz

      That’s Howard.

      1. Kernanator

        That’s Our Howard!

        1. Yotomoe

          Not mine. I demand a paternity test.

        2. Aizat

          I would raise mine differently.

        3. Doctor_Who

          Mine neither, he looks nothing like me.
          /Still not ginger.

        4. GoldStarz

          Well he must obviously look like his other parent.

    3. arjay2813

      i liked that he liked GoT, until this morning, now i’m with you

    4. Aisling

      I want to help!

  2. Shark_Spoon_HOOHAHA

    He’s a charmer, isnt he?

    1. DudeMyDadOwnsADealership

      Wellllll, the bullies like him….so to speak…

  3. JebJeb

    Kinda want to strangle him. Or crack something over his head in hopes massive head trauma changes his personality.

    1. Yotomoe

      Y’know, from conscious to un.

  4. Geminia999

    Soooo, he needs to watch Game of Thrones that much? I’d think he’d be up to date. Also, wouldn’t he need to wait 2 years, not 1?

    1. Aizat

      Nobody got time for that.

    2. Kennerly

      Maybe he’s homeschooled. It would explain the poor social skills.

      1. Ryorin

        Dude, not cool.

      2. Aizat

        Or he could have a very short attention span.

      3. begbert2

        Alternatively he could have gone to a public school. That would explain his poor social skills.

        Seriously, the dude is 16. And a nerd. At *best* he’s got a nerd social group to not learn how to talk to girls in. At worst, well.

        1. Kernanator

          At worst, he doesn’t even have that much and doesn’t even have friends.

        2. StClair

          at that age, the nerd social groups tend to [i]reinforce[/i] the bad ideas (including how to talk to girls), because no one knows any better.

        3. StClair

          reinforce

          (stupid trained fingers)

    3. Crimson Magic

      His Grandpa probably doesn’t let him, and this is one of Howard’s few chances to escape his authority.

    4. Ryorin

      He might have a late-autumn birthday. I had a friend who turned 18 during our first year of college. It’s not the most common thing, but it happens.

      1. Geminia999

        But even then I assume that it’s late September right now which mean his birthday just happened and it would still be 2 years since he would turn 17 next year.

        Or maybe he just skipped a grade or something?

        1. Kernanator

          Late September is not the same thing as late autumn.

          (Late November birthday here)

        2. Geminia999

          Ah, miss read it as august.

      2. Jarrod

        I had a friend in college who turned 17 during his first semester of college. Lots of early admissions are possible.

        1. inkwell

          I have a friend who didn’t turn 18 until January of our first year of college.

          Maybe Howard is a less successful Dougie Howser.

        2. Animal

          Mrs. Animal graduated high school two years early and went to college when she was just barely 16. Because she’s a genius.

          For further evidence: She married me.

        3. begbert2

          Bears take all the good ones.

          That’s going to be the excuse I use next thanksgiving.

        4. Animal

          Yeah, well, it wasn’t easy – I had to go all the way to Iraq to find her.

    5. Fernando

      Maybe the problem is the Lessick’s grandfather? I imagine that Howard’s not allowed to watch any R rated stuff in the house or go outside except for school (strict old man! – hence the “escape” comment). His high school buddies keep telling him stuff about the show, maybe even showing him some youtube videos in their phones, and he goes crazy for the boobs, sex and violence.

      So this is his anxiety-ridden non-greeting to his sister: “Yeah yeah, hi and stuff, now can I get to the Game of Thrones Marathon already?”

      1. Morgauxo

        I don’t think he has any high school buddies.

  5. Taigan

    Howard has gone five whole minutes without mentioning Star Trek. This is, indeed, a strange new universe.

  6. Ragnal

    You, with the black hair. You’re not helping her point.

  7. Plasma Mongoose

    Hands up anyone who actually waited until they turned 18 to watch R-rated stuff… anyone?

    1. Aizat

      Nope.

      1. Kennerly

        My dad let me watch American Werewolf in London when I was 3.

        1. Animal

          My Dad let me watch “Howdy Doody” when I was three.

    2. Kernanator

      Me, though mostly because of my parents.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        You poor devil.

        1. Kernanator

          Yeah, my parents (actually just my mother, but they’re practically a single entity where rules are concerned) were pretty strict about it. Once I turned 18, though, pretty much all bets were off. In fact, tying back into the strip’s topic, me and my parents (my parents and I, dammit) just got finished watching the first two seasons of GoT on DVD as a family.

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          Until this strip, I didn’t even know that GoT was R-rated as I just haven’t felt the desire to even try watching GoT as of this time.

        3. kateastrophe

          It is more than R-rated. It strays toward X-rated pretty often. It’s NC-17 at the very best.

      2. saltchocolate

        Me, too — same reason.

    3. JebJeb

      My parents tried… Until I turned 11, then they just gave up.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        I pretty much was able to watch anything uptil 18+ rated once I became taller than my mother when I was 12ish.

    4. Wonder Wig

      *laughs*

    5. Yotomoe

      Once I found out how easy it is to find porn on the computer all bets were off.

      1. StClair

        Oh, you youngsters have it so easy. When I was a minor, “porn on the computer” would have consisted of ASCII printouts. We had to make do with catalogs, illicitly-acquired PLAYBOYs, and in some cases, National Geographic.
        Now they just pipe it into your house along with the utilities. :p

    6. Luzahn

      I did, having been an irritatingly guilt-ridden kid. Although luckily my Dad insisted I watch most of his R-rated sci-fi movies with him when I was little.

    7. Aizat

      Does Hokuto no Ken counts? Or MK4?

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Yes as many parents assumed that all animated stuff is for kids.

        1. Aizat

          No, not anime, the manga. I read it when I was 5 years old.

    8. brionl

      I was going to say me, but I looked it up and the R-ratings 17+ debuted when I was 10. I just don’t think there were any R-rated movies that caught my interest until Animal House came out in 1978. And I was already 17 or over by then anyway. But to make up for that, my friend and I stayed over and watched it twice in a row w/o paying for another ticket.

    9. AgentKeen

      Are you kidding? My parents almost encouraged it (with their supervision and approval) while I just wanted to watch cartoons…

    10. Tanarin

      Not I. Been a fan of the Alien franchise since I was 8, and, watched many many R-rated movies before then.

    11. Rex Hondo

      My folks were much more OK with R-rated comedies, as opposed to violent movies, a philosophy I can agree with. Once I hit my teens or so, they largely trusted me to seek out my own entertainment.

      1. Cagooner

        My parents are the complete opposite.
        They think the jokes are “inappropriate”, even though
        we live in America, where 12 year olds say that stuff.

      2. StClair

        My parents took me to see “Animal House” as a toddler. (No sitter, I’m guessing.) My mother was mortified by the first topless scene. I remember none of it. (Until I saw it at college – nigh-mandatory, as much of it was filmed there.)

    12. Doctor_Who

      Started when I was seven when my cousins were babysitting me and rented a Nightmare on Elm Street.

      Scared the shit out of me and still one of my favorite movies of all time.

      The original, not the remake. Remake sucks.

    13. Dierna

      The first R rated movie I saw in theatres was Robocop. My dad dragged my mom and I to see it and my mom covered my eyes during the super gorey scenes (I was 7 at the time). 😛

    14. Quinctia

      My folks were weird about what they allowed. South Park debuted when I was in my mid-teens, and my sister was 11 or 12, and we’d sit down and watch that as a family.

      Also, I was the youngster of my graduating class, so it happened to pass that when they took the entire 11th grade on a field trip to see Saving Private Ryan, it meant my school took me to an R-rated movie on my 16th birthday.

    15. SHAZAM

      I know I watched something 15 (that’s what we have in the UK) before I was 15 but honestly I have no desire to see much 18 rated stuff.

    16. Totz the Plaid

      The age is 17 here in the U.S, but I’d already seen R-rated stuff many times before then.

      The first time I can say for sure was when I saw the Matrix at age 11. That was with adults, but not entirely “supervised”.

      I saw the approximate equivalent of an R-rated movie earlier than that when I saw Airplane, which is shockingly rated G, but nowadays would either get PG-13 or R for its sexual humor.

      The first R-rated movie I saw without adults around was T2: Judgment day at 14 or 15.

    17. jaimehlers

      I watched R-rated movies (with my parents) before I was ten.

    18. timemonkey

      I was watching R movies when I was like six.

    19. inkwell

      I think my first R-Rated movie was when I was six and watched Love Actually with my parents. They made me close my eyes during the scenes where Martin Freeman is a stand in for a porno though.

    20. Crimson Doom

      I don’t watch R-rated stuff at all, and I’m 18, so I suppose I technically count? Maybe?

    21. begbert2

      I think I count, particularly if you’re limiting this to actual shows and movies, as opposed to looking up “vagina” in the school encyclopedia.

      I was raised in a strict Mormon household with draconian rules about television, movies, and the computer use. Plus I was more into reading that watching TV. Sue me.

    22. Toastie

      Depending on the content my Dad might let me watch an 18s movie, but a 16s game no matter the content is off-limits

  8. Aizat

    I’m guessing Howard is the type of guy who really needs his attention to be invested in something.

    1. Yotomoe

      He’s really going the need to invest in medical attention soon *cracks knuckles*

      1. Aizat

        Dude, this aggression will not stand, man. At least wait until he causes mayhem.

        1. Luzahn

          I for one don’t want to live in a world where the comments aren’t randomly violent towards things.

        2. Totz the Plaid

          Fucking picture frame! I want to smash it!

          Random enough for ya?

        3. Mr. Random

          No. For true randomness lies in an unsuspecting victim AND gross overuse of violence. See this house? Nope, it’s now an ice sculpture. DOUSED in liquid nitrogen. And time to finish it with a herd of stampeding kindergardeners.

        4. thecanvashat

          DESHI! DESHI! BASARA! BASARA!

  9. Kernanator

    He has Greeting Deficiency. It’s a very serious disease.

    1. Yotomoe

      Hi Howard
      “Goodbye. DAMNIT”

  10. Aizat

    Well, Howard is going to watch games….just not of the thrones variety.

    1. Kernanator

      Game of Helmets.

      1. DrunkenGator

        And in this Game of Helmets, you either win, or you’re IU.

        1. C.

          If Minnesota’s playing, there’s a good chance of IU winning this one.

  11. Yotomoe

    If howard is in such a hurry to see a booby, he should look behind his sister. Billie is a HUGE boob.

    (who thought I was going somewhere else with this?)

    1. Aizat

      Flashing?

    2. Maycroft

      Billie accounts for 2 of those huges.

  12. Plasma Mongoose

    Wow, Howard sure is short for a 16 year old.

    1. Aizat

      Meanwhile, my 16 year old brother is taller than me.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Slightly or several inches difference?

        1. Aizat

          Let’s just say that I passed his shoulders in height.

    2. Yotomoe

      Naw. I was probably about Howard’s height at 16. I didn’t do my growing until I was 18.

      1. Plasma Mongoose

        Crikey, I was 5’8″ at 13 and 5’11” by 15, unfortunately I’m now down to 5’10”.

        1. Yotomoe

          Where’d you relocate it?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          People do get shorter with age.

        3. Yotomoe

          :T…well yeah…but like…way later.

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          If only that was also true in my case… *sigh*

  13. Aizat

    Wait, escape? I’m just imagining grandpa Lessick’s house being like Stalag 17 or something from the Great Escape.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      HOOOOGAN err HOOOOOWARD!

      1. Totz the Plaid

        He knows nothink!

    2. StClair

      Twenty days IN DER COOLA

  14. Nono

    Hey, Howard actually curses (sorta) in this universe.

    I… guess that gives him an edge over Walkyverse!Howard?

    1. Yotomoe

      Not everyone’s a puritan in this itteration. Not even Joyce.

  15. zomgvampires

    I feel your pain Howard. During 4th of July weekend, I dished out $50 more a night at the beach just to have HBO to watch True Blood, and internet to blog about it that Sunday. I know those feels.

    1. Spiny Creature

      Wait, what? If you normally have HBO when not at the beach, you would have an HBO Go account. You know, for free and whatnot. And even if you had to pay for wifi wherever you were staying, I have never heard of $50/night wifi.

      ~~Awkwardly questioning the financial decisions of strangers~~

      1. zomgvampires

        The HBO Go wasn’t under my OR my roommate’s name. And internet man. I needed my internet. Also, the GOOD (not gross/roach infested) hotels/motels during fourth of July weekend in Port Aransas, TX are expensive. There was a method to my madness.

        Also, your gravitar is SO appropriate when awkwardly questioning the financial decisions of strangers. I’m okay with this.

        1. zomgvampires

          Roommate being the person I was rooming with at the beach.

  16. Ryan Balis

    Is he still a fan of star trek?

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      I’m betting that he will be a Captain Archer fan.

      1. Groove

        Everyone is an Archer fan.

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          ^/sarcasm/ ….right?

  17. Uniqueantique

    A Booby? Try whole body, front and back, male and female. And those bodies are not just standing around. Not R rating either, its MA.
    I have been told teenage boys think only of 2 things: food and sex, I believe it, but as a female, I can only guess the depth of those feelings in men. However, I can ‘guess’ at how a teenage boy would lie, cheat, and steal to be able to watch GoT.

    1. Yotomoe

      I thought about, Food, Sex and unwavering crippling depression at my own shortcomings.
      But nowadays I only get two of those things.

      1. Kennerly

        How do you live without food?

        1. Yotomoe

          You flatter me.

    2. vsophi

      “I have been told teenage boys think only of 2 things: food and sex”

      Whoever told you this is perpetuating a (likely harmful) stereotype. Don’t subscribe to it.

      1. Kernanator

        Yeah, I mean, I thought of Pokemon too. That makes 3 things right there. Oh, and my grades, that’s four. And why they sell hot dogs in packs of eight, but hot dog buns in packs of 12 (the answer is to make you buy more of them), so five.

        1. Heavensrun

          I frequently see this floated as a reason for that, but I think it has more tod o with the fact that butchers tend to sell things by the pound and bakers tend to make things in dozens, and somewhere along the way it just became “the way things are done.” I mean, if it was to get you to buy more stuff, that would be a bit absurd, because the things only keep for so long (especially the buns, since you can at least refrigerate the meat) and you’d have to buy 60 to make them come out even.

        2. Totz the Plaid

          60? I think you need to re-check your math.

          12 buns x 2 packs = 24 buns.
          8 hot dogs x 3 packs = 24 hot dogs.

        3. Heavensrun

          Actually, sorry, that’s wrong too. Hot dogs come in packs of ten, (standard size, the larger jumbo ones come in packs of 8) Hot dog buns come in packs of 8, typically. I was remembering the 10 hot dogs per pack and reading the 12 buns per pack, So that’s 40 to make them match up (unless you get the jumbo dogs, in which case you’re good) I still contend that it’s packing conventions for two different industries that lead to the discrepancy.

        4. Kernanator

          Still really annoying, though.

  18. Rex Hondo

    Wow. Ruth just became a much more sympathetic character, while the benefit of the doubt I was willing to give Howard yesterday just kind of evaporated.

    1. Yotomoe

      Never assume Howard is likeable.

      1. Aizat

        Well, I have a rule that every character is likeable….until they do something stupid except Kira Yamato. I hate the little prick from the very beginning and I take pleasure on beating the shit out of him in DWG2 with the Master Gundam.

  19. Uniqueantique

    Ryan I’d say yes.
    I am a Trekkie from way back, have all the original Series videos, scaled schematics of the Enterprise, an original Tribble, etc. Star Trek conventions the only ones I attended in person.
    And I am totally hooked on GoT.
    It is entirely possible to be a SciFi and a fantasy fan. I have been since I discovered Heinlein at the age of 9, ‘Starship Troupers’ (much better than the movie), and shortly after that Lord of the Rings.

    1. Luzahn

      I’d always assumed both would naturally share a fanbase; regardless of the direction they go, both deal with a theoretical world that is interesting due to its contrast to our own.

      Personally I’m most familiar with Asimov’s sci-fi though, so I may have a bit of a limited perspective there.

  20. Uniqueantique

    I’m talkative tonight. One last thing, Ruth and Billie ‘were not teenage alcoholics”, they ARE teenage alcoholics. I was married to one for a long time. You are either an alcoholic or a recovering alcoholic, but never ‘were’.

    1. David

      However, you can stop being a teenage alcoholic pretty easily, by turning twenty, as Ruth has done. Billie might not consider herself a teenager, as being in college might reclassify yourself as an adult which may be mutually exclusive depending on your perspective.

    2. Lamachine

      I think she simply meant that they started drinking when they were teenagers – not that they aren’t alcoholics anymore.

    3. Mason Kramer

      It’s possible that Ruth is 20, and so not a teenage anything.

    4. Norah

      Ruth and Billie are still alcoholics, but Ruth is 20 now. But I don’t think Billie is exactly saying they’re no longer alcoholics. I think she’s trying to make the point that since she and Ruth both drank booze when they were Howard’s age, even though they weren’t allowed to by law, why isnt it ok for Howard watch an R-rated show.

      I could be misinterpreting it though.

      1. David

        Nope, that’s exactly it.

    5. AHR

      I think it might have been the teenage part that was the were part. Ruth, at the very least, ain’t a teenager anymore.

      1. AHR

        and I was just out ninja’d cause I didn’t refresh the page before replying. I AM SMART.

  21. piemanpie24

    Howard being a fan of Game of Thrones is fitting, and I like it. I’m going to assume he has read all the books, because it’s Howard.

  22. Kernanator

    Also, I think we finally know who that “Sir” was!

    1. Aizat

      Retired General Lessick?

    2. Everyl

      No kidding. I’m seeing a lot of Howard hate here, but I can’t help but think that he’s been stuck in the same household as the person who, quite likely, drove Ruth to become a teenage alcoholic in the first place. Considering how desperate he is, it’s unlikely that he can normally watch HBO at home, and he might not even *have* internet access there to try torrenting it himself.

      I’m still giving the little nerd the benefit of the doubt. Obsessing on age-inappropriate TV shows is probably a healthier escape than drinking to the point of self-destruction.

      1. Aizat

        I would go for some video games or my power trip fantasies that I’ve been having since I was 9 for my escape.

        1. Toastie

          We are two of kind my friend!

        2. Aizat

          You have power trip fantasies too? Awesome.

  23. timemonkey

    How long will it take before Billie realises even guys like HOWARD aren’t paying attention to her at all?

    1. Yotomoe

      I dunno. I’m sure there’s plenty who are online paying attention to her. Clicking through her comic tag with one hand.

      1. timemonkey

        How many hands do you usually click with?

    2. Spiny Creature

      To be fair, she is currently being compared to the promise of Emilia Clarke. She could be naked and making him peach cobbler, but the thought of Emilia Clarke would still win.

      1. Yotomoe

        ugh…I’m so tired…but I want to draw Billie making peach Cobbler naked.
        Y’all won’t mind If I draw this tommorow and post it on tommorow’s comic, will ya?

        1. Totz the Plaid

          Of course not!

          Better a late pic of naked baking Billie than never!

        2. Aizat

          Any pics of Billie naked is worth the wait. Heck, I waited for Duke Nukem Forever, I’m still waiting for a sequel to G Gundam, that Giant Robo OVA, Shin Mazinger and a both a new Getter Robo series and a new Dragon Ball anime. I can wait for one more day.

        3. Mr. Random

          Anime ended forever man. They made dragonball. Then dragonball z. That covered the entire manga. Then they made GT. (still don’t know what that stands for…) which, the creator disowned. They then made Kai. I think you’re done waiting unless you think they’re redoing DB or DBGT. Or a new movie.

        4. Leonou

          GT stands for “Great Tour” (if I remember well), because at the start of the show they’re travelling accross the universe to find the Dragon Balls (once again).

          And they did make a new movie recently … one I havent’t seen yet …. please excuse me for two hours, I need to download/watch that thing right the hell now !

        5. Aizat

          You didn’t hear the news? After the success of Battle of Gods, Toriyama will be making a new Dragon Ball manga which will no doubt be adapted into an anime…..soon. Don’t know when but I’ll wait. You know how Amy Pond is called the girl who waited? Well, I’m the dude who waited…..for a lot of things….like a girlfriend for instance.

        6. Narf

          Keep waiting, lonely tumbleweed…

  24. Spiny Creature

    Today is a Saturday in the DOA-verse, correct? Howard’s desperation would suggest he’s talking about a new episode, not wanting to rewatch old ones. But I find it implausible that he would have waited 6 days to watch the new GOT.

    The only possible conclusion I can form is that this is an alternate universe where all pop culture is exactly the same, except that Game of Thrones airs on Friday nights. Which leads to so many questions! Does Mad Men also air on Friday nights, right after Game of Thrones? How far does the rabbit hole go?

  25. Gram91

    I hate him even more now

  26. Doctor_Who

    I swear I will eventually watch GoT. It’s on my list. It’s just that my list is very full at the moment.

    I’ll make time for it when I run out of Avatar the Last Airbender and Red Dwarf.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      If GoT was showing back when Xena was still on, I most likely would have at least gave the show a few episodes to see if I liked it or not.

      1. Spiny Creature

        Out of curiosity, why would Xena being on make a difference? Does Xena’s gay subtext get you in the mood for Game of Thrones’ gay, um, text?

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Simple, back when Hercules and Xena was on TV, I actually watched a fair amount of TV as I didn’t have home internet access back then and as such, I would have given GoT a chance as it was more or less the same genre as Herc and Xena.

  27. nothri

    I swear, every character in this universe starts off as a slightly bigger dick than in the previous universe. And not in a good way.

  28. vsophi

    Wow, Howard’s way more obnoxious than I remember him being.

    1. Gram91

      Kinda makes you wish Joe didn’t let him in the car.

  29. Steven

    Are we talking college or pro? Baseball? Football?
    Because as a native Minnesotan, just gonna throw it out there. You’re likely to win. Against our football team. And our baseball team. And most of our other sports teams.

    1. Mo

      I’m guessing this is a hockey thing, the Wild.

      Which makes me wonder how long a drive it is now. Come here, Google Maps.

      1. Mo

        Although I guess it could be college football, given the poster image from before.

      2. Andy

        As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t think it’s hockey. The three nearest cities with hockey teams are St. Louis, Columbus, and Chicago. And each of those is a 3+ hour drive from Bloomington. Plus there’s the fact that she says “the game against Minnesota,” implying the team playing Minnesota’s is one she generally roots for. Since none of those three teams are Toronto, it’s more likely college football.

        1. Luzahn

          Oh also never go watch the Blues. Don’t do it.

        2. Andy

          …I know there’s no way you could know this, but you posted that reply to a Blues fan. So, no offense meant, but fuck you I’ll watch the Blues.

        3. Luzahn

          Ah, no offense meant. I grew up in St. Louis, and all I remember about the team was that they were generally regarded as being not as good as most of the teams they played.

          If I followed hockey I’d probably be cheering for them, however. Bleeding blue and all that. =P

  30. Steven

    Large breasted half asian college chick in the room and he’s excited about Game of Thrones, huh. I guess I was the wrong kind of nerd growing up.

    1. Tanarin

      Either that or he knows his limits. Or maybe this version is gay. Need more time to figure it out.

      1. vsophi

        Is Howard straight in this universe?

        1. Steven

          Looks like I should have waited for the next comic before posting this.

  31. ridtom

    Ok guys Walkyverse Howard vs Dumbingverse Howard- KNIFE FIGHT!

    PLACE YOUR BETS PEOPLE!!

    1. Totz the Plaid

      Either one of them wins, and we lose, or both lose and we win!

      I’ll be standing by with a cyanide-laced victory soda in case one Howard walks away from it…

  32. Spiny Creature

    Fun fact: I have had four different people offer to torrent something they wanted to watch on my laptop. You know, out of the goodness of their hearts. They were always shocked when I declined.

    And that is why you don’t get strange, entitled upper-middle-class 20-year-olds to be your roommates!

  33. The Candyman

    Damn Howard, stop being such a whiny little bongo. To believe I used to like you.

  34. Psycho

    Jeezus, I know that Howard was a socially awkward nerd in the last continuity, but it was still sort of endearing rather than annoying. Now he just seems like a bratty teenager that I’d want to punch. Hard.

  35. NightmareWarden

    This is my first time seeing this “Howard” character. I have a feeling he has a tendency to break electronics. Sometimes via a wii-mote through the screen and sometimes with viruses from torrenting.

  36. Arkadi

    Well, that explains two things: why Howard blurted out “Game of Thrones” soon as the door opened, and why everybody who knew the character previously wanted to kill him dead ^^

  37. Arkadi

    On the other hand, the conversation between Ruth and Billie seems to imply that the lad is starved for good stuff, which would make it a bit more understandable.

  38. ninja_jesus

    Pfff, Howard doesn’t seem that bad. I’ve dealt with worse from my own brother.

    Then again, this is coming from someone who hasn’t read anything pre-DoA yet. 😀

  39. Charles Phipps

    He seems perfectly normal to me. Then again, I hate sports.

    1. Aizat

      I hated playing sports, whether virtually or in real life. Why? In real life, I had to put with jerks, assholes and morons who constantly changed the rules just to make sure he will win in the end. And that moron represented our school in the state under 12 football tournament.

  40. Alexis

    There are more boobies in Game of Thrones than in Star Trek.

    To anyone who thinks his behavior might seem more inexplicably inane or asinine, know that there is nothing inexplicable about it. His purpose is noble; his passion, engorging.

    1. Rex Hondo

      Yeah, but if all you’re after are boobies, there are much more efficient (not to mention a LOT less depressing) ways to go about that, especially given internet access.

      1. Arkadi

        Obviously, boobies is not all he’s into.

        1. Robin

          He’s also into weddings with a colour theme.

        2. thecanvashat

          Plausible Deniability, mainly.

  41. T Campbell

    I’m interested in the way Billie just comes right out and says “I was a teenage alcoholic” when just a few days ago she was like “Booze is my friend! You guys, my alleged flesh-and-blood friends, you all suck compared to booze.” Even saying “we should quit alcohol” is tentative, like saying “I should stop BEFORE this becomes a problem.” Supporting Ruth has done wonders for her own denial levels, is what I’m saying.

  42. molochmachine

    The fact that I completely missed why GoT would be inapropriate for teens until I read the comments here probably says a lot about how inured I’ve become to the constant presence of porn everywhere online. Hmmm.

    I mean, I know GoT’s racy and all sometimes, and hot people are hot, but really, the nudity kinda just slows the show down for me, and makes me think less of it overall when it’s unnecessary. Get to the character and plot development, dammit.

    1. drs

      There’s also the violence. The sometimes rather graphic violence.

    2. Luzahn

      Well, it’s also often violent in a particularly cruel way, so there’s that. Also I wouldn’t be surprised if the whole Lannister incest thing bumped up the rating.

      1. JustDucky

        Speaking of violence in a particularly cruel way…

        I answered your question about the Red Wedding in yesterday’s comments.

        1. Luzahn

          Ah, thank you for the notice!

    3. The Candyman

      For whatever reason, American Media is much more lax on violence than it is on nudity and sexual acts. Because seeing someone’s head chopped off is apparently much less traumatizing for little Timmy than seeing a boob.

      1. JustDucky

        There’s an old joke regarding the MPAA rating system: If you say “I’m going to eff you over” you get a PG-13. If you say “I’m going to eff you over a table” you get an R.

        It’s not just the media, though. Parents in the U.S. seem to get a lot more freaked about sex than violence, too. It’s bizarre.

        1. Tom Speelman

          True enough.

          Regarding the MPAA, movie critic Michael Phillips once wrote that they’re “criminally easy on violence, but near-puritanical on sex.”

  43. TeacherLady

    Does this make me a bad big sister for introducing my 15-year-old baby brother to GoT? *snicker*

  44. Tom Speelman

    Despite him being the sort of person I’d be annoyed by IRL, I am SO GLAD Howard is back!!!

    Also, Willis, I see what you’re doing. With that foreshadowing.

  45. Andrusi

    I am too well-trained.

    1. Andrusi

      Or just well-trained enough, apparently, since I didn’t know this version existed until I accidentally linked to it instead of the familiar one.

  46. OckhamsFolly

    I… I don’t understand. Does Project Free TV not exist in this universe? They have high quality GoT streams, and it’s far preferable to tormenting, Imo.

    1. OckhamsFolly

      *torrenting

      Damn autocorrect…

    2. Aizat

      Yes, they torment us with high quality streams.

  47. someguywithakatana

    This is the difference between a child raised on Star Trek and a child raised on Game of Thrones.

  48. Natkhat

    This guy’s already more whiny and annoying than the previous Universe’s Howard…

  49. ajm5007

    I like all the people offering explanations as to why the 16 year old boy is such an ass. Maybe because he’s a 16 year old boy?

  50. Neospector

    No, Howie! Don’t Torrent!

  51. Uniqueantique

    Luzahn, I think you are right and it does not matter ‘that you mainly stick to Asimov.” Isaac A. is beyond excellent. I have about 800 SciFi paperbacks as I’ve been collecting since I was 9. I also like Ellison, Farmer, Quinlin, Pournell, and too many more to name. I like the hard sci. writers best, but there are good ones out there that hit the emotions pretty hard. Try Harlan Ellison’s short story “I Have no Mouth and I Must Scream”, I couldn’t sleep for a week after that one.
    Have to say that was pretty sneaky, Mr. W., correct of course, they are not legit. teens anymore 🙂

    1. Luzahn

      Ah yeah, Farmer is good. Riverworld crossed that Sci-fi / Fantasy line pretty well, didn’t it?

  52. Whittier

    If y’all could only hear the voice in my head that I’m associating with Howard…

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