708

Fix
Posted on December 17, 2014 by David M Willis

708 thoughts on “Fix”

  1. Camachri

    Oh, hey, it’s… that guy. Who nobody wanted to see again.

    1. Jen Aside

      apparently it’s “Ross”?

      as in “Oh… he’s got a ROSS…”

    2. Toad

      Cubedad is a dick

      1. Dreadhawk177

        No, he’s . . . he’s a.. butt-hole.

        1. Tunaro

          We gotta find a new word for these sorta people; buttholes just ain’t cuttin’ it anymore.
          What’s, like, deeper and more terrible than buttholes? Sphincters? Ovipositors, maybe?

        2. MM

          Santorum generators?

        3. grantimusmaximus

          “Cloaca” has a nice hard, cutting, evil sound to it.

        4. Undrave

          A cloaca is like a butthole and a dickhead all in one! Works for me!

        5. David

          Not without a duck penis. Nature’s way of saying “you’re screwed anyway”.

        6. Mitsukara

          But turtles have cloacas : ( They can use them as a backup breathing method when submerged! Turtles are awesome.

        7. Kelly

          Just makes me think of birds and also of ZeFrank’s hilarious True Facts series.

        8. JustCheetoDust

          And an episode of The Drinky Crow Show.

        9. Kryss LaBryn

          And Jeph Jacque’s Shouting Bird.

          He is all about the cloaca.

        10. Kelly

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y4DbZivHCY

          Sea pigs and the cloaca

        11. JacHunter

          And a certain Salarian doctor.

        12. Tomas

          It makes me think of Isabella Rossellini gracefully prancing around in a silly animal costume and describing nature’s most horrifying reproductive organs.

        13. WikiDreamer

          Perfect!

        14. John

          i wouldn’t want to call him “Cloaca”, because it would dishonor the memory of poor Cloaca Mahoney, who was the PC in an LP of Hatoful Boyfriend I read.

          (If you’re not familiar with Hatoful Boyfriend, I recommend looking this up. It is sheer insanity in pigeon-based dating sim form. And I mean to an even greater degree than just the phrase “pigeon-based dating sim” would imply.)

        15. Kryss LaBryn

          My young kids and I call them JERKS. It’s about the worst thing we can label someone as.

          What a jerk.

        16. BobaFett2

          Asshat.

        17. 11bane

          I’m tempted to start calling people like that tumors. Seems a good illustration, they’re horrible to have. They drain you, and you have to go through a special brand of living hell to get rid of them. The real sneaky ones…well…sometimes it takes you a while to realize they’re there at all, but when you do, it’s a horrible thing to find.

        18. Yet_One_More_Idiot

          How about an anal fistula? That would be like a…a butthole within a butthole.

          Butthole-ception! xD

        19. Morty

          My general go to formula for an insult is adjective+animal+food; for example: ‘stupid pig bagel’. For this kind of sleazeball though, I’m just gonna ramp it all the way up to ‘steaming pile of bloody, shit-covered, horse smegma’, which is just about the worst thing I can think of calling anyone

        20. NotPiffany

          I generally use “asshat” as my all-purpose “this guy shouldn’t be breathing my air” epithet.

        21. ZORK

          I’m known for using “dipshit” in circumstances as these. But I’d also be tempted to use “fuckwad” for a guy like this one.

        22. Emperor Kiva

          I got one “Shit faced cock-master” How’s that?

        23. xKiv

          And then there’s asstard.

        24. Oberon

          We need a new word.

          Intolerasses?
          Despicasses?

          I’m not sure why I always seem to end the new word with “asses”, it just seems to fit somehow.

        25. Knightsky

          “A void surrounded by a sphincter muscle”

        26. FoolOfATook

          I find myself using “douche-toboggan” more and more lately. Tis the season.

        27. la6ue mous snow angel

          He’s a dick wrapped in a butthole

        28. Khrene

          How bout dickbowl? Like dick+butthole-“utth”

    3. Catullus

      Wait, “again”? Was Ross in the Walkyverse?

      1. Heather

        According to tags, no…

      2. Raijin K

        Just in the subscription J&W strips. He was the worst.

        1. thinkingofthechildren

          Seriously: The Worst. Willis was kind enough to share the sequence with the Patreon people. Knowing only the bare minimum about J&W or about the Walkyverse in general, still, my blood was boiling. Fucking Ross.

        2. David M Willis

          I have also put some of him on Tumblr: http://itswalky.tumblr.com/post/105417234107/ross-macintyre-finally-named-shows-up-today-for

        3. Timni

          yeah you did! *high five because i am a minor with no money to do paetron*

        4. BobaFett2

          I can’t find it on Patreon. Is it only for people paying 5 or more?

        5. StClair

          Becky looks cute with long hair. Which is not to say she doesn’t… okay, let’s just go with “Becky looks cute.”

          Also, Ross is a sad, square little man, and I pity him.

        6. Chris

          As a “sad, square little man” who doesn’t share Ross’ opinions, I am sad that Willis has selected this body shape to give to an asshole. I know some shape had to be selected, but I hope everyone hating Ross recognises that hate comes in all body shapes and not to attribute Ross’ hate to the fact that he is a “sad, square little man.”

        7. StClair

          Of course. (That was at least half a Toy Story joke, anyway.)

          Also also: ‘300 question survey”, and if you answer any of them differently, you’re a heretic, which is worse than a godless sinner/ignorant heathen because you’re doing it wrong.

        8. David M Willis

          Ross isn’t very square. He’s more of a series of triangles: http://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/105470029617/realized-i-had-never-drawn-ross-macintyre-below

          If you look like that at his age, I’d say you’re doing pretty well.

        9. SDGlyph

          Ohhh… so he thins down considerably below the chest then. I take it the camo pants confirm that he’s ex-military, as some have suggested?
          (Oh God he’s one of those dominionist gun nuts, isn’t he)
          (I can’t help but think of American Beauty)

        10. David M Willis

          He’s ex-Kmart clearance section.

        11. John

          Oh hey camo pants. Of course.

          Was he ever actually in the military, or is he one of Those guys?

        12. John

          (I guess the question got answered before I finished posting it.)

        13. Bagge

          Hello second least favorite character in the whole comic.

        14. WikiDreamer

          ….I think I’m going to be sick. I thought Blaine was bad.

        15. Kris

          Well that guy seems like a kind, rational, understanding man who excepts people’s beliefs even when they contradict his-ppffftt NO! He’s a complete tool! The strips were pretty funny though.

        16. Mitsukara

          I love that you said “excepts” instead of “accepts”. Much more accurate.

        17. Chris

          Exactly so. A perfectly correct little error.

        18. Halloween Jack

          Christ, what an asshole.

        19. ahuh

          That second strip at least reminds me of this amusing flowchart of “Things that lead to mixed dancing”. Also the joke that premarital sex is forbidden because it could lead to mixed dancing.

          http://www.frumsatire.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/1798703_474545735978560_252431764_n.jpg

        20. Deanatay

          Worse than Blaine?? WOW.

        21. Yotsuyasan

          I dunno if anyone can be worse then Blaine… Controlling, both physically and mentally abusive, and willing to kidnap acquaintances in an effort to control you? Blaine is about as awful as you can get… Ross can only hope to tie.

    4. -Sentinel-

      He looks like the dad from the “Son, I am disappoint” [sic] meme, only with a ‘stache.

      1. JetstreamGW

        Naw. “Son, I am disappoint” guy is a burly mofo. This guy’s just chubby as hell.

      2. Darth Cariss

        That is what I thought, too. As soon as I saw him I said aloud to myself “Becky, I am disappoint”.

  2. Jen Aside

    Nope, sorry–still can’t believe that asshat spawned Becky.

    Blaine… *almost* believable [but horrible]. “Becky’s dad” looks like he actually made the “babies come from the store” myth a reality, ’cause what is even going on there, how does Becky have a mom with that

    1. hoovy_woopeans

      adoption is a thing

      1. Jen Aside

        adoption kinda implies generosity and kindness??

    2. Yotomoe

      The preganancy was even harder on him than the wife.

      1. Doom Shepherd

        That guy seems so unlikely to breed that it would require pregaMANCY.

        Nah, I just wanted to say “pregamancy.”

        1. Gadgeteer Smashwidget

          “Pregmancy” sounds like a new and exciting school of magic.

        2. GodtiernickCage

          well its either the school of magical pregnancies
          or
          the school of magical pragmatics.

        3. Deanatay

          That’d be ‘pragmancy’.

        4. Mr. Morningstar

          can we refer to mpreg fan fics as pregMANCY fics from now on?

        5. Chris

          Only if they’re magical.

    3. No Name

      He’s probably not the father.
      And was never told otherwise.

      1. NotPiffany

        I hope so. For her mother’s sake.

      2. John

        Yeah, I figure they probably had a red-headed mailman.

  3. otusasio451

    …Huh. Nowhere near as bad as we feared.

    1. Tunaro

      Still pretty friggin’ sucks, though…

      1. otusasio451

        I’m trying to be an optimist about it. IT’S HAAAAAAAARD.

        1. nothri

          That’s what she said!

        2. Roborat

          Surprised that response took over 3 hours.

    2. MxJosh

      What were you fearing??

      1. otusasio451

        School kicked her out, parents disowned her completely, Kaitlin got to stay in school unfairly. At least she wasn’t kicked out, her parents didn’t disown (although they don’t accept her for who she is, which still sucks), and Kaitlin DID get to stay in school, but Becky wasn’t kicked out.

        1. Foxhack

          He said “Fix her”. Which usually implies some sort of… forced re-education.

          Like “Conversion Therapy.”

        2. Kelly

          And since she ran away to avoid it, he probably is disowning her now.

        3. Regalli

          Assuming he isn’t coming to get her now. Probably with the Browns as backup.

          Ugh this genuinely hurts with all the awful that could be in Becky’s future, poor sweetie.

        4. otusasio451

          …Well, my optimism is dead.

        5. Kaunisenkeli

          I’m going to hold onto hope that instead of a dad, Joyce thinks to call Leslie.

        6. Peregrine

          Welcome to Dumbing Of Age, where optimism exists mostly as a Red Shirt.

        7. NotPiffany

          If he shows up, then I’m hoping for a cameo from Sarah’s bat.

        8. Mitsukara

          That would be a step up. The worst parents force their children to stay, like this guy already tried to do.

        9. Luzahn

          To be honest, that sounds worse than disowning. I mean even in the short term that would be psychologically hellish; I don’t want to think about that sort of suppression’s long-term damage.

        10. Regalli

          I… Yeah. There’s a reason why there’s such a high rate of suicides among the LGBT+ youth population.

        11. Bill

          L = lesbian
          G = gay (and actually, isn’t this the same thing as lesbian?)
          B = bisexual
          T = transgender
          + = ????? — what’s left?

        12. tyersome

          When I lived in the SF Bay Area, Queer was being used as a catch all term for people who didn’t fit the ‘accepted’ categories — my understanding is there’s at least one additional whole new orthogonal spectrum ranging from asexual to … Joe|Roz — with aromantic to romantic out there as well …

          … as for gay = lesbian … remember how gay used to just mean something like carefree & happy? AFAIK gay is pretty much exclusively used for male homosexuals now …

        13. Daashi

          Usually people put Q, it is suppose to mean Questioning but a lot of people take that to mean Queer and since it is a reclaimed word it is troublesome to some. I usually add AD to the end of it for Asexual and Demisexual.

        14. onethousandnames

          Weirdly, my newspaper refuses to use LGBT except in quotes because it’s technically redundant, even though that’s the preferred nomenclature. We’re, uh, a bit old-fashioned.

          + is because some people/organizations add more to the acronym.
          Q=questioning (I’ve also had people say it stands for queer.)
          A=allied
          If there’s a second A, it sometimes means asexual.
          There are more, but I have to start asking/looking up the group when there’s more than that.

        15. chisci

          pansexuals, asexuals, intersex people, and questioning people for starters. and yeah lol lesbians are just gay girls so that’s a bit redundant, but when you just say gay the mental picture is that of two guys, so it’s like a necessary redundancy i guess? people tend to forget about lesbians as it is

        16. chisci

          in the ten minutes it took for me to type a comment three other people ninja’d it, amazing 😛

        17. Robin

          A is for asexual (also aromantic?), not for ally/allied. The LGBT+ community is not our community (as allies) because their struggles aren’t our struggles, no matter how good of an ally we are. We can be LGBT+ advocates (as in advocates for LGBT+ people), but then we don’t advocate for ourselves as allies.

        18. ninja_jesus

          I’ve gone from using LGBT+ to LGBTQIA+ (Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, etc), and then to just using MOGAI (Marginalized Orientations, Gender Identities and Intersex). Much more inclusive without having to extend an initialism.

        19. Luzahn

          I’ve recently run across the use of GSD (Gender and Sexual Diversity) and that one seems like my preferred term. Much less unwieldy, if a bit less iconic.

          Hopefully there isn’t anything historically problematic with it.

        20. gwalla

          @ninja_jesus: How does “Marginalized Orientations, Gender Identities and Intersex” get abbreviated to MOGAI? Where does the A come from?

          I’m not just asking because the lack of a W seems like a missed opportunity…

        21. Kelly

          MOGAI and GSD I haven’t seen before. I did see a suggestion for SAGA – Sexuality And Gender Acceptance, though it is arguably a bit orthogonal.

          And yeah, A is for asexual and aromantic, not ally

        22. chisci

          for a while i’ve been using gsm, same as gsd but ending in “minorities” instead -i’ve seen some people dislike this term cos they feel it could easily include like straight kinksters, but i trust people to be smarter than to group super persecuted trans folk along with unfairly shamed chubby chasers. also there’s quiltbag which i know of because of that t campbell comic, but personally i don’t like the sound of it in any context other than glossing over the community as a whole, and even then just for convenience ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

        23. davidbreslin101

          I think my favourite is “QUILTBAG”, the acronym so self-aware it’s allowed to vote. Several of the letters stand for multiple things- good luck figuring them all out!

        24. Aris Katsaris

          QUILTBAG = Questioning, Undecided, Intersex, Lesbian, Trans, Bi, Asexual or Gay

        25. insufficient data

          Historically, the “A” *did* stand for Ally, so it’s understandable some people still use it that way. It’s fallen out of favor for the reason Robin states, but some older people/organizations still use it that way.

        26. Regalli

          MOGAI= Marginalized Orientation, Gender Alignment and Intersex.
          I just used the best-known one for convenience, but yeah, MOGAI’s my preferred one.

          (Alignment rather than identity because cis women would fall under identity and trans men wouldn’t, if I’m recalling correctly.)

        27. Plasma Mongoose

          You mean like the ones mentioned in this CRACKED article?

          http://www.cracked.com/article_20843_6-shocking-realities-secret-troubled-teen-industry.html

        28. -Sentinel-

          Another interesting (if depressing) article about LGBT youths from conservative families: http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/the-forsaken-a-rising-number-of-homeless-gay-teens-are-being-cast-out-by-religious-families-20140903?page=4

        29. Chris

          Nothing Willis has ever done in any part of the Walkyverse has ever actually brought tears to my eyes… Congratulations -Sentinel-, you’ve done what Willis could not.

        30. Gadgeteer Smashwidget

          Holy shit, is this actually real? Are some people actually so paranoid that their kid is “at risk” that they’d expose them to these weird shady things?

        31. Plasma Mongoose

          ‘fraid so, I just hope they don’t have that sort of shit in Australia as well.

        32. Em

          It’s everywhere. EVERYWHERE. There is no place in this world that is free of it.

        33. Betty Anne

          They do. Google “ex-gay therapy Australia.”

        34. Plasma Mongoose

          well…fuck… ಠ_ಠ

        35. StClair

          Yes.

        36. Halloween Jack

          Unfortunately, yes.

        37. OmegaDez

          Nice Avatar, Mongoose. =D

        38. Plasma Mongoose

          Thanks, I wonder where I got it from? hmmmmm

        39. David

          Oh, if you are out to save your daughter’s immortal soul, you’ll not be above organizing a neighborhood gang rape for her and forcing yourself to watch. Exorcise the evil female spirit that has taken a hold of her.

          I don’t think Willis is going there, but once some religious enclave is homogenuous and determined enough to go into self-amplifying mode, scary shit happens.

        40. All-purpose guru

          Isn’t that what happened to Leslie in the other continuity?

        41. Luzahn

          See, this is why you don’t trust enclaves. Too much power and incentive to hide evil stuff.

        42. David

          They are hiding the good stuff because it would be beyond you heathens’ comprehension.

          Something like that.

        43. BobaFett2

          Getting kicked out isn’t really much worse than damn reeducation camps. Those things are evil.

    3. slicey

      well dad did want to straight camp her so……. im now looking forward to her going to ruth for help and what needs to happen happening
      (damn you willis if something like this doesn’t happen)
      Becky crashes in the dorms with ruth helping hide her or she contacts a group that helps lgbt kids/young adults, she looks for/get a job probably something low paying, she finds someplace (maybe a multi-room mate situation) in which to live

      1. spriteless

        There is a pizza place that doesn’t discriminate on gender issues, primarily because the owner has prosopagnosia. He also has megalomania. Becky could play off his issues. Yes, this will all have a happy ending.

        *cries*

        1. John

          For everyone but Galasso. Because he’ll never figure out why Becky isn’t getting an heir on Conquest. Maybe the temperature isn’t right?

      2. Estron

        If Becky and Joyce go to Ruth, you know who else is going to get involved? “Head cheerleader — problem solver!”

    4. LegalSeagull

      What are you talking about?

      Baaaaad stuff happens when parents try to fix their gay kids. Conversion therapy, corrective rape, troubled youth camps, just a whole bunch of heinous, heinous shit. Honestly, given how horribly bigoted her parents seem to be, I don’t blame Becky for running away, even a little bit.

      1. otusasio451

        Agreed. The whole conversion therapy thing disgusts me. But, Becky ran away, so that’s not happening. Again, this could have tuned out FAR worse for Becky. Parents still obviously care about her and what happens to her, and she not going through a process as terrible as so-called conversion.

        Honestly, Im just trying to be optimistic about this whole thing.

        1. SDGlyph

          Oh goddammit, Kaitlin did throw her under the bus. Understandable, but ugh. I suppose that clears up the lingering questions about the two.

          Also, Ross Macasshole can go DIAF, kthxbye. I only the read the J&W! strips last night, at which point it became clear that Becky’s family weren’t going to be any help here.

          Joyce – go talk to Dotty and/or Leslie, stat. And really listen to Becky, like she’s asking you to, and then re-evaluate your relationship with Ethan.

        2. SDGlyph

          Huh, that was supposed to be a new comment, not a reply.

          Anyway, the actual reply here was yes, you can really see how Becky’s dad cares for her in the way his reaction is all about “discipline” and “fixing” her as opposed to, say, acceptance or concern.

        3. otusasio451

          I mean, he DOES care. Just in the worst way possible, given the situation.

        4. Nightsbridge

          Better to have a deadbeat dad, than that.

        5. Estron

          Better a deadbeat dad than a “beat-dead” dad, that’s for sure.

        6. NotPiffany

          He doesn’t care about Becky, he cares about his reputation among the religious bigot set.

        7. Betty Anne

          Thank you. Too many people think the “I’m going to fix my gay kid” parents actually CARE about their child. They don’t care about their child, they care about themselves and their reputation within their like-minded community.

        8. Heather

          Precisely. He’s still an abusive dickwad. Just not physically abusive like Amber’s dad as far as we can tell.

        9. xKiv

          He might not be physically abusive himself, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s willing to delegate.

        10. jimbotherisenclown

          Betty Anne, I’d disagree. Most of them, sure. But there are some that honestly and earnestly think that their atrocious attempts at ‘fixing’ the kid are an attempt to help them. Sure, they’re misguided and wrong and abusive. But they aren’t malicious, which, in a way, makes them MORE scary. I just think of Vorbis from Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods. He wasn’t evil in his motivations, but he managed to be one of the worst characters in all the Discworld books (even worse than Teatime or Lord Snapcase, and just as bad as Lily Weatherwax or the elves).

        11. Bagge

          Maybe he can come to look for her and get into fistfights with Ruth? I could see that becoming a habit.

          Also, is there a vigilante with daddy issues somewhere who can land a hand?

      2. Drakontis

        The fact that “Corrective Rape” is an actual term just makes me weep for humanity…

        1. Ryan

          I think “Corrective Rape” might be an even more disgusting term than “Legitimate Rape”.

        2. Rachel Roth

          If you are going to weep for Humanity, bring buckets, cause we are fucked up, and not just in the way that continues the species.

        3. Transfinite Induction

          Well not only is it a term, but that really is something men like Becky’s father often to do “fix” their gay daughters, as I know from first hand experience.

        4. Bill

          And some mothers, hoping it will work in reverse.

        5. NotPiffany

          First hand experience? Shit, I’m sorry you had to deal with that, Hon. Have an internet hug from a complete stranger, if you want one.

        6. Plasma Mongoose

          If any organisation needs to be reamed by the hard-core feminists, it is these conversion therapy groups.

        7. Opus the Poet

          They have been, by legitimate psychologists, feminists, and a few state legislatures.

        8. David

          Oh come on. We are talking about a country here who thinks their leaders and the services under their command are to be applauded for making the CIA do a heroic and patriotic duty using “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques” (including rape, by the way) on suspects until they are dead or marred for life. Just to make sure that they indeed know nothing worthwhile or are not connected to terrorists other than having their neighbors killed by drones and having suspicious names and skin color.

          So what’s wrong with corrective rape if it accomplishes the job? Like, reducing the number of people who could continue to live and function in some not-compatible-with-my-bible-reading relationship?

          That’s literally what your ex vice president Cheney stated: he is fine with torture as long as it does the job (by the way: it doesn’t, but that does not really make a difference regarding its total immorality).

          And “corrective rape” more likely than not does the job: making it impossible for someone to lead a reasonably happy non-standard-conforming life.

          Don’t take me wrong: there are deeply religious people I have a lot of respect for. Most of them, however, use their religion to govern their own lives rather than ruin that of others. They use religion as a guide rather than as a weapon.

    5. dethtoll

      The version in the J&W stuff Willis linked to further up is almost strawman level in his singlemindedness.

      I say almost because I know people just like him.

  4. Idon'tcarenomore

    Poor Becky. Poor Joyce, she really is out of her depth here. Dang.

    1. sps48

      But Joyce knows she is and wants to get help. Pretty mature for her.

      1. Leorale

        That’s true. Picking up the phone is a Very Good Idea. Now all she needs to know is, who is the proper person to ask for help? Maybe she’ll google it.

    2. Steven

      Joyce has been out of her depth from day one. That’s what makes her so great is that she hasn’t had a mental break down… yet

      1. Disloyal Subject

        I’d argue that the whiteboard ding-dong banditry was a breakdown, albeit a small, mostly harmless one.

    3. Rachel Roth

      Who wouldn’t be?

  5. Dreadhawk177

    Becky is the new Leslie…

    1. MM

      Can Leslie adopt Becky? Please?

      1. MxJosh

        Yeah you took the words right out of my mouth

      2. Mr k

        That would be awesome. Maybe she can adopt Ethan and Amber as well.

      3. Leorale

        That sounds magnificent. Joyce comes to class, and she’s like, “Excuse me professor, remember how on the first day you said that Women’s Studies is really only for lesbians…?”

    2. otusasio451

      My thoughts exactly.

    3. Jen Aside

      I was thinking Leslie would be a terrific ally! [possible spoiler??]

      [[EVERYTHING is a possible spoiler tho]]

      1. lejwocky

        The future is not a straight line. It is filled with many crossroads. There must be a future that we can choose for ourselves.

        1. Kelly

          You have to make sure you are in the right leg of the trousers of time.

        2. Solenoid

          If a stitch in time saves nine, how many were saved when that was sewn?

        3. Kelly

          I dunno, but I bet Commander Vimes would make short work of Ross if he came after Becky. Lu-Tze of the History Monks would probably be willing to interfere too.

        4. anonymsly

          Vimes would only get Ross if there were bits left after Angua and Cheery (especially Cheery, I’d bet) got through.

        5. NotPiffany

          Oh, wouldn’t it be fun if Angua and Carrot dealt with Ross while Cheery and Sally took Becky and Joyce out for a drink and a chat?

        6. SDGlyph

          Oh man, I want to read a fic of Angua, Cheery, Becky and Joyce going out for drinks. Not slash, just drinks and chat.

        7. Roborat

          Yay, discworld references.

        8. lejwocky

          No one seems to have gotten my Akira reference :c

        9. BobaFett2

          Even if you’re in the wrong leg, the luggage will find you.

        10. Kelly

          Maybe we can feed Ross and Blain to the Luggage

        11. Gamaran Sepudomyn

          You know, I’ve wondered what would happen if the Luggage met the Langoliers, but never as hard as I have now. Any ideas?

      2. waterbuffalo

        Hopefully Joyce thinks of going to her…or Billie or Ethan or literally anyone that would want to help besides Becky’s dad

        1. Mitsukara

          Oh man oh man, I swear if this is the next strip or something, I don’t have patreon access so this is just a guess. But, you know who Joyce would be quite reasonable to go and ask for help?

          Her R.A.

          That’s bordering on the best possible thing I can imagine her doing here, too!

        2. barefootbiker

          Except Joyce, like practically everyone on her floor, is terrified of and/or hates Ruth. Billie may have softened her up, but Joyce doesn’t know that.

        3. Mitsukara

          Fair enough, but she is still an appropriate nearby authority figure…

      3. Mitsukara

        Aren’t the Walkyverse and Dumbiverse canonically adherent to the “many worlds” multiverse concept, where every possible variation of every event ever actually happens in parallel? So everything IS a spoiler, somewhere!

      4. Chris

        Guesses are not spoilers… spoilers are only based on actual knowledge of what happens next. So if you’re a Patreon patron and come here to alert the hoi polloi then that’s a spoiler. If you’re making a guess and get lucky, that’s just good luck – congratulations.

    4. liahansen

      I hope Becky and Leslie do cross paths at some point. It’d be nice for at least one of the characters to get some good adult guidance.

    5. T Campbell

      Yeah, Becky and SP!Leslie definitely followed similar paths up to this point. We never actually saw Leslie interact with her parents as a child or young adult, though, and while we’re only alluding to it here, Becky is younger than any incarnation of Leslie ever seen, so we’re getting a much more immediate, up-close look at things which were only backstory in Leslie’s case.

      And… er… there is no GUARANTEE Becky will keep following Leslie’s basic path and not end up going back home to her dad to be reindoctrinated after all. She’s got formidable spirit, but that is not always enough to overcome a lifetime of rigid, controlling behavior.

      In any case, Leslie had the good fortune to make a go of it with her first personal OTP (eventually). It is exceedingly unlikely that Becky will do the same.

      1. brasca1

        Toxic home environment as a motivation to run away. I think there’s a girl in Boston who can relate. Maybe you could share her number.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Oh yeah, the character from P&A that went to S*P and ended up rooming with the character from QoW. Randy is great about housing webcomic orphans… Did you read the Life with Rippy where Randy is the last living webcomic artist, and every comic was left to him to continue, and he’s plotting massive crossovers while minions sketch, ink, and color the scripts… I think he had all kinds of IV tubes because he didn’t have time to eat or sleep, so nutrition and stimulants were pumped into him constantly.

        2. brasca1

          Yes, Helen. That was one of my favorites and seeing as how Joyce was working at Nerdotica, Becky can hang out with her whenever she wants.

  6. LeslieBean4Shizzle

    I’m so glad I waited to vote in the Becky poll. +1 for Greatest.

  7. liahansen

    dude looks like a toe

    1. Varius

      duuude. perfect. +1

    2. Yotomoe

      I’d be mad too if my daughter was makin’ out with hot chicks and I looked like a toe. Nobody loves a toe.

      1. JustCheetoDust

        Nobody loves a toe.

        Other than people with a foot fetish.

      2. tyersome

        Yeah, what JustCheetoDust says.

        You’re sandalously out of step Yotome, its a shoe thing that there’s a potential sole mate out there for even the worst heels.

        1. 3oranges

          I think you nailed it.

        2. tyersome

          Nice!

          I do feel obligated toe mention that the only nailing I can even bring myself to think about with that guy would involve the 6″ steel kind and a hammer …

        3. Gadgeteer Smashwidget

          can we not threaten violence against people and/or characters we don’t like?

        4. JacHunter

          Dude, are you new to the DoA comments? Not likely. That said…

          -grabs my torch and pitchfork- I’m next in line after tyersome!

        5. Mr. Morningstar

          its not like they’re real people, they’re just characters in a webcomic. No one is threatening actual violence against actual people here (i hope)

        6. tyersome

          At the risk of being serious “… I can even bring myself to think about …” was intended to convey that thoughts of sadistic murder were as far as I was willing to go … but you’re right — I’ve really got to learn to not contribute to the idea that violence = solution …

        7. Chris

          Meh, he’d probably feel it a huge honour to be crucified as a martyr for fighting to retain his retrogressive beliefs…

  8. kenny

    and I will try….to fix you.

    1. Yotomoe

      And then he took Becky to the vet.

      1. SonicBlueRanger

        Why can’t I favorite!?

    2. Rachel Roth

      NO! YOU WILL NOT RUIN THAT SONG! I CHOOSE TO… aw crap. It’s ruined.

  9. Geminia999

    There’s this Amber Girl I’ve seen around randomly, maybe her dad?

    1. Thor

      Sigh. In too late to make the obvious, yet awesome, joke first.

      1. Geminia999

        Mwahahahahaha!!!

        And you’re the god of Lighting?

        1. begbert2

          Of track lighting!

        2. Kim

          😀
          ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8duX_eFqmE !

      2. Kim

        seconded ^_^

    2. Robin

      Aw, crap, missed this comment.

      Some day I will make an original joke in these comments, some day…

  10. Idon'tcarenomore

    I’ts not Blaine. Its Ross. Still a cut from the same cloth, more or less.

    1. winter

      Ross is speeding right past the Browns, Walkertons, Siegals, and Wilcoxes for most shitty parent award, but still pulling up short of our reigning champion, Blaine.

      All parties put together a good showing. *slow clap, throws tomatoes*

      1. winter

        Damn! Forgot the Billingsworthes! They can have some tomatoes too.

      2. brasca1

        They have their faults, but that’s some pretty high standards you’re holding them to.

        1. winter

          Almost all of them are okay-ish. Ross is on a separate plane of awful from the rest of them, just from a flash judgment. And Blaine is on a whole separate plane of awful above that.

      3. Portmanteaust

        So… are Dorothy (and probably Dina)’s parents the only supportive parents in the Dumbiverse?

        1. John

          Sierra’s parents seem kind of awesome.

        2. ninja_jesus

          Mike’s parents.

        3. Deanatay

          Mike’s parents are this scary kind of 50’s-stereotype, Ozzie-and-Harriet kind of supportive that’s horrible in its own way. It’s why Mike is decent and well-adjusted, but an asshole.

        4. Andrusi

          I don’t think Dumbiverse Galasso has been shown to screw anything up yet.

  11. Emperor Kiva

    Cute Joyce, always trying to help someone.

    1. Carriethedragon

      And never knowing how.

  12. T Campbell

    Well, on the bright side…

    …

    …………..

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      The only Bright Side I can think of.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHPOzQzk9Qo

      1. lejwocky

        indeed

      2. BobaFett2

        I can think of another
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGdGFtwCNBE

        1. nothri

          I was just about to do that. Jerk!

    2. Kris

      The bright side is that Becky has a friend good enough to even try to understand even when she’s in way over her head.

    3. Aslee

      it was only a kiss

      how did it end up like this

      it was only a kiss

      it was only a kiss

      (… she’s mrs. brightside?)

    4. Yotomoe

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6FtqH_ImZo

    5. Rabid Rabbit

      On the bright side, Chapter 45 of Gunnerkrigg Court still exists, and we can all go reread that to cheer up.

      1. chisci

        sans the last two pages

      2. Robin

        Renard might be a little bit more… traditional.

    6. nothri

      Could be worse. Could be raining.

  13. caramelundqueer

    So Kaitlin did turn against her? Aww 🙁 But the school didn’t actually expel them? That’s surprising. It’s weird though with Becky presumably being 18 that her parents could just pull her out of school like that but I guess even if she is a legal adult the school being a religious institution would defer to her parents?

    1. Viktoria

      Ross: “I’m cancelling the check for my daughter’s tuition.”
      School: “Becky, you have no money, you’re kicked out. Good luck with life.”

      1. caramelundqueer

        Oh yeah I momentarily forgot there are parents who can/do pay for their kids education. My own experience was relying entirely on state aid.

        1. BobaFett2

          My parents are paying for my college (thankfully). Cancellation is definitely possible for mine (which is not Anderson) between semesters. I’m not sure about mid-semester, though.

          I’m really glad my parents aren’t bigoted assholes.

      2. winter

        Can tuition be canceled like that? Assuming the check already went through, I would expect the policy to be “No Refunds”.

        1. SDGlyph

          I’m pretty sure the college didn’t kick Becky out because he stopped paying. That’s his fight with them, probably later; Becky said he “pulled her out of college” which implies more forbidding her to go than getting her kicked out.

      3. Rutee

        Good luck cancelling a check that got paid out a month ago. It can nominally happen, but you’ll have to prove they’re a scam to your bank (and probably their’s). Have fun with that.

        But you know, they can make her life hell even if she stays, and Rent very well might be monthly.

        1. Mr. Morningstar

          you seem to underestimate the lengths religious fanatics will go to stop what they deem as sinful. Especially if it involves gay sex.

        2. Rutee

          Oh, I know the lengths they’ll go to. I’m not saying he wouldn’t try. Hence ‘good luck’.

    2. Makkabee

      My guess would be that the school was prepared to kick them both out, but agreed not to impose the maximum penalty if the parents agreed to a lesser one. Kaitlin’s parents supported her remaining in school as long as she renounced her evil lesbian ways and blamed Becky for everything. Becky’s parents (or father at least) chose more extreme measures. Ross might have been planning on conversion therapy.

      1. StClair

        This. Basically, everyone within Becky’s world-up-to-now is against her. Except Joyce… who is trying. There’s that.

    3. TSB

      Adding to what people have said about tuition: even if her expenses for the term are all paid up, why would she stay there for the rest of the term knowing she’ll have to leave? Everyone there knows she’s gay and Kaitlin turned against her. That campus is probably like a nightmare. And even if her parents can’t get the tuition back, her housing and meal plan might be more tenuous.

    4. NotPiffany

      It’s also possible that Becky’s 17, not 18. I was a freshman in college when I turned 18 due to the age cut off in the school district I started in.

  14. otusasio451

    DAMN YOU, ROOOOOOOOOOSSSSSS!!!

    Although, to be fair, at least her parents haven’t disowned her. Misguided, maybe, but they haven’t completely abandoned her. Hopefully.

  15. Kris

    Call the principal’s dad and tell on them. They’ll get so grounded.

    1. waterbuffalo

      Oooooh principal is espousing a heteronormative worldview and discriminating based on sexual orientation oooooooooohhhhhhhh

    2. newllend

      No late night debauchery with the other deans for You , barely young man !

  16. Viktoria

    I can’t say I blame Kaitlin for taking the party line, as much as I want to. You take what steps you have to to protect and support yourself.

    However, Ross, Kaitlin’s parents, and the school can go suck a bag of dicks.

    1. Emperor Kiva

      All at once or one after another?

      1. Julesflanda

        It is a BAG of dicks. Probably at least one for everybody.

        1. saltchocolate

          Circle suck.

      2. Opus the Poet

        Yes. With a time machine if necessary.

    2. winter

      I have a hard time just excusing Kaitlin when she so obviously sold Becky out. But on the other hand, she’s just some scared kid, who’s right to be fearful of the backlash if Becky’s situation is any indicator…

      But, yeah, you’ve chosen a just punishment for the rest of them.

      1. Rutee

        Yep, that’s the thing. What Katlin did is obviously a thing that’s harmful, but she’s also under the definition of duress. The same horrible punishments might just be waiting for her. It doesn’t matter how cynically or how grudgingly agreed to sell out Becky. And a college education, rightly or wrongly (Probably wrongly, given the barriers we put up to getting one) is really fucking important to a future.

      2. tortoiseshellbat

        Eh, we don’t actually know Kaitlin’s side of it. Maybe cynically threw Becky under the bus, but maybe she tried to stand up for her and it didn’t help, or maybe she convinced herself that Becky really *did* seduce her and is in full on denial- there’s just too little information to make any kind of judgement of her, imo.

        1. tortoiseshellbat

          Just reread the comic and Becky does say “she told everyone I was a bad influence or something like that,” which does sound like selling her out, but the “something like that” indicates to me that Becky heard it second-hand and may not know the whole story.

        2. SDGlyph

          I assume some level of coercion.

        3. John

          I think simply being in that position qualifies as coercion. I doubt there’s anything Kaitlin could have done that would have really helped Becky, and I find it pretty plausible that even attempting to would simply have put Kaitlin in the same boat.

          I’m making some character judgments based on the Walkyverse strips Willis posted on Tumblr, but it seems likely that Kaitlin could’ve said, “It was totally my idea and my only regret is that we didn’t lock the door,” and, while it might’ve helped Becky’s morale, it would’ve just meant that instead of taking Becky out of school to “fix” her, shitbrick would’ve taken Becky out of school to get her away from the corrupting influence of the homogays, and maybe done some preventative “fixing” just in case she caught the gay, and it might well have gotten Kaitlin kicked or taken out of school, too.

          So I’m finding it hard to blame Kaitlin for saving herself. Though I won’t say that Becky doesn’t have reason to feel bitter about it.

        4. John

          … Though she might have tried, “So, uh, funny story, we were changing into our pajamas, and when Becky was taking her pants off, she tripped over them and fell on me and knocked me over onto her bed and landed with her face right in front of my you know and we both shouted and I might have taken the Lord’s name in vain because I lost my glasses and that’s when the RA came in and found us naked with Becky’s face between my legs. So you see it totally wasn’t what it looked like. I’m not even sure what you think it looked like. I don’t know anything about this stuff you’re talking about. It sure sounds sinful to me.”

    3. Jeeves

      No, a BOWL of dicks. You gotta let ’em breathe a little. Y’know, like wine or brandy.

  17. Frost Magi

    I know they will get through this. Have faith everyone. Trust in the heart of the cards.

    1. Undrave

      But the deck is stacked against them! Everybody’s dad sucks! Except for Dorothy’s dad I guess? Oh and Dina’s dad wasn’t an asshole!

      1. Thasvaddef

        Best Dad in the city award goes to … Galasso?

    2. Yotomoe

      I believe in the pancreas of the cards.

      1. tyersome

        Islet this this go too long and Galling as it is to admit I can’t think of a single pun involving Langerhans …

        1. StClair

          I didn’t think anyone would have the guts to make a comment like that.

        2. tyersome

          I’m a firm bileliver that if you can’t stomach a few puns there’s something gastrically wrong with you …

        3. Kelly

          Someone should be (gall) stoned for this!

    3. Deanatay

      Perhaps, I could believe, if I could believe in hope, or fate, or even random chance acting in their favor. But, the god of this universe is WILLIS. There is no hope.

  18. Idon'tcarenomore

    Gosh no Geminia not Ambers Dad Blaine. He makes Ross look like a bunny.

  19. Opus the Poet

    Someone needs to tell that “butthole” that you can no more fix gay than you can fix being black. And that it’s probably his fault.

    1. Yotomoe

      That may be true, but I’ll figure out the cure to being white one of these days, Opus. Melanin is the way to go!

      1. timemonkey

        The cure for white people is to hook them up with darker people and have them reproduce. white is fairly difficult to maintain.

    2. Knifleman

      Tell that to MJ

      1. Anders

        yikes.

      2. Opus the Poet

        She’s been told, repeatedly. There are no insurance companies that will pay for “reparative therapy” because it has been proven not to work, in fact the former head of the association for reparative therapy recently got married to his longtime male partner…

        1. Knifleman

          …I think we’re talking about different people, because I meant Michael Jackson.

        2. John

          I’m wondering who Opus is talking about, because the only other MJ I can think of is Mary Jane Watson-Parker, and, while I haven’t read Spider-Man comics in a while, that doesn’t really seem like a direction Marvel would want to take them.

  20. Cephalo the Pod

    Becky’s Dad looks like the Asshole from that one Shortpacked strip.

    1. liahansen

      oh yeah that one

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      This strip.

      http://www.shortpacked.com/index.php?id=1398

      1. liahansen

        WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOA

        1. liahansen

          Toe people abound

  21. Boomwolf

    Am I the only one who thinks Becky’s dad kinda looks like Joe if he just really let himself go?

  22. waterbuffalo

    I have ascended this mortal plane I am now one with a fictional character because someone needs to scream YOU GO GIRL at becky

    1. saltchocolate

      + 1

  23. Ancestral Hamster

    Joyce is naive. Fathers also f**k things up, sometimes deliberately.

    1. hoovy_woopeans

      “Joyce is naive”

      breaking news

  24. Beachfox

    I honestly can’t think of anyone in the cast (aside from maybe Leslie) who’d be able to handle this situation properly..

    Hopefully Joyce will get a bunch of them together and between them hash out a semi-proper approach.

    *glances up at the comic title*

    However unlikely that scenario is…

    1. Luzahn

      Well, now I’m hoping this will lead into the Leslie/Robin plot. I really want to see how that one plays out.

      1. Leonou

        I agree that Leslie is the best suited for helping (and that she’s long overdue a place in the spotlight) but I think that Joyce is much more likely to ask help from an acquaintance closer to her, aka Ethan.

        He’s the only “””openly””” queer person she really knows and would be comfortable talking with about it (she doesn’t know about the Billie-Ruth ship yet). Ethan being called for help could also what finally makes him realize how bad his current deal with Joyce is, and decide to affirm himself.
        THEN they can search for associations working to help persecuted gay young persons or go to Leslie. That way we got Character growth for both Joyce and Ethan and psychological and practical support for Becky …. poor Girl will have to go through very rough times.

        1. Pizkie

          Agreed that Leslie would be best, but I’d tie Billie with Ethan on “people Joyce is likely to ask”, because she knows/thinks that Billie has already overcome a gay temptation/situation AND is awesomely helpful and knowledgeable about stuff.
          Actually, I’m kinda-sorta rooting for her to ask Billie. This seems like the sort of shit-has-hit-the-fan situation that Alpha bongo Cheerleader Billie has solved once or twice in high school.

        2. Leonou

          I one hundred percent agree with you about Billie being helpful and Joyce probably calling her to the rescue.
          However, please Joyce do NOT call Billie because you think she “used to feel gay and have been through this phase, so she can help de-gaying Becky and everything will be back to normal” . That would bad, like really bad (fortunately Billie wouldn’t agree to assist in that).

  25. t00lishness

    Ugh. Becky’s dad isn’t a butthole, that’s not strong enough a word. He is a cockmangler. Yet, fun fact, he COULD be both. …I hate that he isn’t real and I can’t punch him.

  26. Dean

    “Because of him, I’ll never be able to curse properly!”

  27. HMRC4EVR

    From what I’ve seen so far, I can’t really say any of the parents we’ve met would be a safe haven for Becky to find even temporary shelter.

    Right now I’m going to jump on the ‘have her stay with Leslie’ bandwagon. Becky needs someplace safe to get her thoughts together about what to do next.

    1. MM

      Dorothy’s parents? Maybe? They at least probably know how to obtain resources from the nearest PFLAG chapter.

      1. Regalli

        One hopes. The problem is we don’t know where they live in relation to campus, which might limit their immediate effectiveness.

    2. Carriethedragon

      Ehhh, that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Dorothy and Sierra have great parents, and Amber’s mom, Danny’s parents, and Dina’s parents seem fine from what I remember. But I agree, Leslie would be a great parental or sisterly figure for Becky.

      1. Undrave

        And let’s not forget Mike’s parents! They’re like his polar opposie and still put up with him!

      2. ahuh

        short-term option that may or may not get me yelled at: LGBTQ friendly religious chaplaincy. I know on some campuses most chaplaincies are housed in converted residential houses and will provide limited rooming to visitors/students who help run it or rent a room or two at a discounted rate; given the obvious emergency circumstances I suppose short-term housing and facilities use could be arranged that would be better than “crash on the dorm floor and hope for the best” and she’d be close to her best friend and newfound support network at least until her life’s stabilized a tiny bit and Leslie’s had a chance to meet her and help her sort things out a bit.

      3. Kelvandil

        Danny’s parents are kind of awful. (Which makes them above average by DoA parent standards, I guess?) See here, here, and the hovertext here.

        1. Dean

          It is a sad state of affairs when Joe’s dad is the gold standard for parenthood.

    3. BobaFett2

      She could go live with Dina’s parents. They would not refuse her, because they do not know how.

  28. Catullus

    “If my parents find out… they will take me home and I will never come back.” -Joyce Brown, 10/21/2011

    Shit. I guess she was right, if Becky’s family is any indication.

  29. grantimusmaximus

    Hmm… potential dads? Almost all the dads that have played plot points were kind of jerks. Except for Walky’s and Dorothy’s respective dads.

    …

    My vote’s for Dorothy’s. He has thus far made the least offensive choices (given the Walkerton’s latent racist decisions.)

    1. Undrave

      Dina’s dad was just a bit of a polite doormat but he wasn’t bad.

      1. Leorale

        Dina’s family is too quiet and polite, though. We need somebody with more spine in case the boat needs some rocking.

        1. John

          Yeah, they let Blaine into Amber’s room even though Dina warned them.

          I think Reno Snow would be the optimal dad here. He has a proven track record for standing up to abusive assholes.

          And Joyce actually knows Sierra. They go to church together every week.

        2. Leorale

          Ooh, yeah, if Joyce is set on going for a dad, Reno Snow is great. I’m not sure that Joyce has met him, but from a reader perspective, he’s easily the best dad in this comic.

    2. Yotomoe

      Luckily in college, EVERYONE is a potential dad. Wear a condom, kids.

    3. Cass

      Mike’s dad is pretty great. Call up Mike’s dad! He can adopt her and it’ll be a win-win situation; Becky gets a dad whose not a butthole and the Warners get a child who’s psychologically capable of responding positively to their affection.

  30. Frost Magi

    Seriously? Nobody said anything about my heart of the cards thing? Wow, surprising…

    1. Kelly

      I have no idea what that is.

      1. Mewzard

        It’s a Yu-Gi-Oh! reference. Also, did I just make my first ever comment on this awesome comic, on such an emotional point, to note that?

        I gotta start posting better…

        1. Kelly

          Haha, thanks!

    2. zach

      It would seem you were delt a bad hand.

      1. Lanval

        Doesn’t help that her dad is such a ‘card’.

        1. tyersome

          Yeah, that Joker really ought to be decked …

          Sorry … I’ll shuffle off to bed now …

    3. Robin

      Screw the Yu-Gi-Oh references, I have money!

      Better? (I’ve only ever seen the abridged series, so…)

  31. Em

    Okay this is bad. But this is also great! Because Joyce is going to totally see how horrible it is to try and “fix” gay people. That they can’t be “fixed” because there isn’t anything wrong. At the least, she’ll realize how harmful it is. And she’ll start thinking about Ethan, and how maybe he needs to be his own person.

    Also Kaitlin nooooo whyyyyyyy…? I mean I know why, but still. And man her dad is horrible.

    1. Em

      This might be wishful thinking on my part.

      1. clodia

        No, I think that’s going to be part of the conclusion as well. Especially since Joyce was praying for a sign in regards to Ethan right before Becky showed up. This is a fucking sign.

    2. Ragnal

      I feel like all of that fixing stuff was sort of forgotten about after Amber’s outburst in the cafeteria. I could be wrong, but I just see her less as a fixer and more of a beard that’s trying to find that compassion she wants so dearly.

  32. Varius

    I… I can be a dad.

    y’know, Becky secretly sleeping in Ethan’s bed would kind of be the perfect thing to feed his need for secrecy, Becky’s need for shelter, and Joyce’s need to.. ahm… well, to help her friend.

    And if she doesn’t tell Becky that she loves her soon, Ima reach in there and smack her upside the head.

  33. Calvin Coolage

    SHE TRIED SO HARD
    AND GOT SO FAR
    BUT IN THE END
    IT DOESN’T EVEN MATTER

    1. Frost Magi

      No… just no

    2. Frost Magi

      Still nothing… I think I’ll be waiting forever on that one. Cosmic forces, you have failed me today.

      1. t00lishness

        You waited one minute for cosmic forces? The doctor will be in eventually, though he does have questionable taste, what with that bow tie and fez nonsense. He may actually LIKE Linkin Park. *shudder* Let’s hope that’s not the case.

        1. JustCheetoDust

          Hey, that minute could’ve felt like an eternity!

  34. fannypiggs

    Yeah! Call Amber’s dad, he seems like he is used to dealing with children with identity issues!

    1. Yotomoe

      Naw, Ethan’s dad. He may be a homophobe but he’s not very vocal about it.

      1. newllend

        Or Mikes Dad he’s always supportive….of everything.

        1. AgentKeen

          Call Sierra’s Dad!

          He… actually seemed pretty reasonable.

    2. newllend

      Well first they’re going to haft to wake his punk ass up out of that Coma.

      1. 4th Dimension

        He is not in a coma since he was able to give his account of what happened to him to the police.

  35. Yotomoe

    “I said, to heck with that because I was raised in the 50s”

  36. gwalla

    Ross “Babies” MacIntyre

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Ross “I Eat Babies” MacIntyre

      Fixed that for you.

      1. -Sentinel-

        yaaaay, gaia

      2. Gigafreak

        Would you say Becky’s situation could be described as “babes MacIntyre”

        1. SDGlyph

          I see precisely one MacIntyre babe, singular.

          Sorry not sorry.

    2. ninja_jesus

      Ross “O’Donovan” MacIntyre.

      …

      God damn it Ross.

    3. John

      I’m kind of hoping “Ross” is actually his middle name, and his first name is “George” or something, so he’s G.Ross MacIntyre.

  37. Mr k

    Hey, Blaine now looks like father of the year compared to this Jackass.

    1. Carriethedragon

      Hey now, homophobia sucks, but Blaine verges on just plain evil.

      1. -Sentinel-

        Indeed. Ignorance is bad, but it’s more forgivable than evilness.

        1. Rachel Roth

          You’re kidding right? Evil is more forgivable than this! Evil has a reasonable purpose, this is just sickening!

    2. Jules

      I dunno, it’s hard to out-horrible an abusive, sadistic control-freak.
      Even if you’re a narrow-minded super-conservative extremist.

      1. MM

        Yeah, Ross wants to “fix” Becky. Blaine only wants to destroy.

        1. Regalli

          … You guys do realize what “fixing” sexuality entails, right? To quote Wikipedia’s page on conversion therapy:
          “Psychologist Douglas Haldeman writes that conversion therapy comprises efforts by mental health professionals and pastoral care providers to convert lesbians and gay men to heterosexuality by techniques including aversive treatments, such as “the application of electric shock to the hands and/or genitals,” and “nausea-inducing drugs…administered simultaneously with the presentation of homoerotic stimuli,” masturbatory reconditioning, visualization, social skills training, psychoanalytic therapy, and spiritual interventions, such as “prayer and group support and pressure.””

          This leaves out another thing historically used to try and fix gay people, corrective rape.

          I don’t care what his intentions are, if he’s going to get ANYONE to do ANY of those things to his daughter, then he’s only a miniscule step up from Blaine at the very best.

    3. Leorale

      Pretty sure we can agree that they both totally suck.

    4. caramelundqueer

      They’re both abusive sacks of shit. They’re both equally terrible.

      1. gwalla

        Yeah, this is a race that nobody actually wins.

  38. Mandy

    Oh sweetie, with everything going on, you’ve earned the right to swear. Go ahead and cuss him out!

  39. Frost Magi

    T_T

  40. Regalli

    … *Remembers Becky’s dad did in fact make appearances in J&W*
    *Remembers what those appearances were like*

    Oh god poor Becky. Poor poor poor poor Becky. Joyce, this is way out of your league. Get Sarah or Dorothy or Ruth on this shit, like, NOW.

    1. Adam Black

      This is clearly a Job for Amazi-girl

      1. Leorale

        Actually, AG would be a totally decent choice! Amber probably knows all about resources for supporting gay kids. And Joyce knows that she can contact AG through Dorothy. DO IT JOYCE

        1. Regalli

          I’m just worried about what Amazi-Girl’s going through, ah… right this very moment.

          And if another abusive dad shows up with her there, it… Yeah, that might not be pretty.

        2. Hoboturtle

          Amazigirl is also known for beating the crude out of dickass dads.

        3. Regalli

          Which would be cathartic as fuck, but would almost certainly not put anyone there in a good situation legally.

        4. Solenoid

          The potential for Mr. Toedad getting assaulted by Amazi-girl is minimized by the high likelihood that she wouldn’t be told where to find him. She would want to flay him, but she would be unable.

        5. ninja_jesus

          Pff, “dickass”. Isn’t that Ethan’s hole problem?

        6. Bagge

          “Dum-dum-dum. Hmmm. Where did that worthless daughter of mine go, and why am I suddenly standing in a dark alley.”
          “[deep voice] Hello Ross. We need to… talk.”

    2. John

      Willis put them up on Tumblr. They
      make me want to remind Walky that he’s a superpowered supersoldier, and see if any solutions present themselves.

    3. Marie

      Can you links?

  41. eromer

    Dorothy’s dad! Call her parents!! Come oooonnnnn

    1. Caffieanted

      I’m not the only one thinking this.

  42. Frost Magi

    I think I will shrivel up in a corner now… You people are so mean…

    1. Frost Magi

      Nobody said anything about it… I was prepared for a “wtf?” or “Why?”

      1. Ben

        I just started reading through the comics… why? Wassamatta? talk to the Roz face… it is excellent listener.

  43. advancecasette

    look at that mans fucking face

    the face of a man who has never heard a lover’s laugh

    a man who has never heard the phrase

    “you are fine”

    from a doctor

  44. Nonagon

    I changed my mind. Becky bugs me because I’ve got a friend going through something similar and I get a twisty feeling in my gut when I think about it. I guess I just didn’t want to admit that it was hurting me.

  45. Cephalo the Pod

    Well, calling a dad seems to be the better shot than calling a mom, given the evidence in the comic.

    Almost feels like a self-reference.

  46. Frost Magi

    I’m done… goodbye people…

    1. Rachel Roth

      Wait, what?

  47. Luzahn

    Kaitlin! Traitor!

    I knew she couldn’t be trusted.

    ( I mean, I suppose I understand trying to save yourself, but c’mon, it’s Becky. She’s adorable.)

  48. Cody C.

    I was already interested in seeing where this was going, but now I’m doubly interested. Mostly because I want to see if Becky learns about what Joyce is doing with Ethan. She seems to be on the side of “I’m not broken, so there isn’t anything to fix” and I wonder how she’ll react to learning that her closest friend is doing just that with someone else.

    Damn you Willis. Why do you have to make your drama so compelling?!

  49. BL

    what is it with this comic and everyone having terrible dads

  50. newllend

    Man Dads in this Comic is kind of suck ass…Except for Joes Dad.

    1. Varius

      Joe’s dad probably has sucked an ass or two. Ask Amber’s mom.

      here’s a nickle.

    2. Kelly

      No, Joe’s dad kind of sucks. Not nearly as bad as some, but there are others a lot better than him too.

    3. John

      Seriously? Dr. Dick is who you’re going to hold up as the standard for non-terrible dads in the Dumbiverse? Not Sierra’s dad, who unhesitatingly stepped in front of a raging maniac to assist a complete stranger, or Dorothy’s dad, who brought Dorothy up to be Dorothy, but the guy who had Sarah threatening to twist his balls off within ten seconds of meeting her?

  51. Tom T.

    Galasso is a dad! Go ask him what to do!

    1. newllend

      He doesn’t even know what a lesbian is he would be perfect.

      1. Bagge

        WHO DARE DISTURB GALASSOS CUSTOMERS!!! (OK, at this point I basically just write revengeficks in my head)

  52. Confuzor

    Ross MacIntyre?
    The one with the Babies?

    1. xKiv

      That was McIntyre. Don’t you know where babies come from? I mean, really come from?

  53. EvergreenFir

    Joe’s probably a dad… ask him

  54. Yoohoo

    I like how Joyce wants to look to a man for advice. That reminds me of the fundies I’ve known who like keeping the menfolk the head of their households.

    yay something I did assume correctly – it was Becky’s parents that pulled her, not the school. Someone posted on some other page’s comments that Anderson had pride groups and clubs for glbt so I figured there was probably a no sexy time clause for the students and that’s why they got in trouble. Screw you though, Kaitlin.

    So now I’m wondering if Becky really is /in/ love with Joyce, or just loves her plus amp’d up to the nines because she’s her only hope now.

    1. Hoboturtle

      Nah, if anything Becky doesnt have a mom. Joyce’s line is just a bit of gallows humor.

      1. SDGlyph

        I had noticed that they only talked about Becky’s dad (even though Becky mentions Kaitlin’s parents, plural). So I’m taking it that Becky’s mom isn’t around – hopefully she got away from Toxic Macasswipe and is happy somewhere else, but in that case it’d be strange that Becky was still living with her dad. I call Dead Mom.

        Or Ross may only be this way because he handled losing his wife very badly, and I’ll end up having to sympathise with him because Willis is that kind of monster.

        1. TSB

          It seems uncharacteristic of Willis to provide any kind of justification or excuse for abusive parenting.

          His stories have always seemed pretty solid on the moral of “you don’t owe your abusers understanding or forgiveness” and playing Ross’s backstory for pathos (for Ross, not for Becky) would be off message. You might see reasons why Ross is the way he is but I doubt the story will encourage you to sympathize.

  55. Mkvenner

    Becky’s dad is worse than Amber’s.

    1. Opus the Poet

      Close, but I still put Blaine on the top of the “Worst Dad” list, if only because we have verification that he was physically abusive to his wife and daughter.

      1. Mkvenner

        and now he has several broken ribs.

    2. SonicBlueRanger

      Well in fairness Ross is trying to “Help” his daughter in the worst way possible.

      Blaine is a childish dickhead who beats his wife and emotionally torments his daughter.

      Both are awful but Ross at least thinks he’s helping his kid even if he’s wrong.

      1. SDGlyph

        Really? Ross’ expression (and Walkyverse appearances) suggest a much more authoritarian stance than, say, Joyce’s parents. I read him along the lines of “My daughter is wrong and corrupted and stands condemned of God, and I did not give her permission to do that! I will bring her back into line because she is under my authority,” – not “My daughter has made a mistake and is in a personal crisis, I will help her find her way back to the right path.” (There… may not be much real difference beyond tone between those, now I type them out. But at least the latter may admit the possibility of change.)

        Right now I’m keeping Blaine on top as a proven serial abuser, but I’m not holding out much hope that Ross doesn’t believe in “spare the rod, spoil the child”. As it is, he looks to have Blaine’s control-freak authoritarianism with a side helping of self-righteousness thanks to being convinced that God is on his side.

        1. SDGlyph

          All this based on one (1) on-panel appearance and a second-hand commentary! So many blanks getting filled in by expectations…

        2. SonicBlueRanger

          I think I might have changed my mind having read his Walkyverse appearances on Willis’ main Tumblr.

          They’re both pretty high on the terrible radar.

  56. Thor

    C’mon, Joyce. I know this is a challenge that you were never taught in Sunday School, but you can do it. You have a best friend at school who is (1) an atheist, and is therefore not burdened with having to justify Becky’s “transgression”, and (2) super-genius smart. So who should you talk to next…? Starts with a “D”…

    1. Jules

      Dad?

    2. Tommy Fresh

      David Walkerton

      1. Kelly

        that is… technically true…

        Much as I like Walky I don’t recommend getting him involved quite yet though 😛

        1. Thor

          Still probably better than that other “D” character, Dina.

        2. Kelly

          I am sure her heart would be in the right place (right between the lungs, and a little to the left), but yeah, I don’t think she could help much.

        3. Luzahn

          Oh god she would have no idea what was the matter. Or why it was a problem to begin with. Which would probably be refreshing, but not all that helpful.

        4. David

          She would explain how dinosaurs and birds manage procreation just fine without a penis. Well, except for ducks.

    3. Tom T.

      I’m not sure we’ve seen anything about Dorothy’s past that suggests that she would have any experience to guide them on what to do next. I don’t know where this sort of family trauma would have come up in her studies.

      1. MM

        Family trauma, no. But maybe in her quest to transfer to Yale, she’s run across some stuff that could get Becky a scholarship somewhere?

        1. Bagge

          And she has drive, skill and willingness to work the system. That helps a long way.

        2. Rachel Roth

          And if not, I’m sure her parents will know something. If they can’t get Becky into college, they can at least house her until she is able to support herself.

      2. Kelly

        I believe that someone looked up the other day that Dorothy volunteers at a shelter or soup kitchen, she probably knows various resources and/or how to find them, and probably knows a lot about scholarships and the like. And she would think to involve, say, *her* parents or Leslie…

      3. SDGlyph

        … actually, have we ever seen Dorothy be wrong about anything? I can’t think of one off the top of my head, beyond the general workaholism.

    4. Hoboturtle

      DSal?

      1. Thor

        DSal? Despite how close that is to “diesel”, we may want to look a bit further.

        1. Kelly

          Destiel?

          Dean Winchester might be helpful against Aliens in the Walkyverse, but I dunno about here. He has family issue of his own to worry about.

          I suppose Castiel could be helpful, for moral support if nothing else, since he is an angle and the girls are Christian (and even when he was in crazy-mode, he had no problem with homosexuals, much less normally)

        2. Kelly

          *angel, oops

          Though the college might have issues with a very strange man in a trench coat claiming to be an angel of the lord trying to help two upset young girls 😛

        3. Opus the Poet

          Dietzel from Wapsi Square.

        4. Thor

          He is a sweetie.

    5. timemonkey

      Damber?

    6. Gamaran Sepudomyn

      Death?

  57. Twilightomens

    You could…call a mom…

    1. Leonou

      Yeeeah, not necessarily a good idea.
      I mean DOA’s “horrible moms team” doesn’t have a gold-star Jackass the level of Blaine, but Joyce’s and Ethan’s moms are be just as bad as Becky’s dad.

      Seriously Joyce, do NOT fuck it up. Stay with Becky and LISTEN to her. Do your best not to say anything stupid and do not let her alone. Offer to shelter her for the night (Sarah will definetely agree once she’s heard the story). Tomorrow, round up an emergency team with Ethan for emotional support and Dorothy for gathering useful intel on LGBT support groups. You’ll have plenty of time to address the practical issues. Then, if you need there are a few adults you can contact : professionals, Dorothy’s parents, Leslie ….
      But right now the lifesaving thing you can do is Stay at Becky’s side because You Love your Friend !

      1. Leonou

        Also, cell in Billie because she’s a Problem-Solving Alpha bongo.
        (She even has connections with the university staff, that’s how awesome she is !)

  58. Varius

    unfortunately… and i so hate to say it, but… i think Willis is going to take the darkest of roads here.

    But hopefully the EMTs will save Becky’s life. Joyce will be crushed.

    1. Thor

      Willis is on record as saying that no one is going to die in this strip, so I don’t think he’s going to take that path.

      That said, how many strips do you have to appear in before you are counted as “someone”?

      1. NF

        She’s someone to Joyce and that’s enough. Think about realistically how long Joyce would grieve and how slow this strip moves time-wise.

      2. Adam Black

        Shes staying alive, else he will have to remove Joyce as a character, too.

        With the slow-time Joyce would be in extreme grief for the rest of the comic, and it would effect nearly every character.

        —which probably explains why Joyce’s “pastor’s son” didnt rape her.

        ( Yes, I know what happened to joyce was awful. But its all the truly more-awful when its successful )

      3. John

        More than three, because he’s also said he might kill off Tony because no one cares about him.

        So Ross is still fair game!

        Also Kaitlin.

      4. Darwin

        Judging by the “great character” or “greatest character” poll, I’d say Becky qualifies as a “someone.”

    2. Em

      I don’t think he’ll have her attempt suicide. If he did, yes she would live, because he promised no deaths. But the thing is, people don’t just snap out of it when someone dies, especially suicide. It takes a very long time, years even. I think that Willis would know this, and choose not to take that path. Becky will definitely struggle with depression, no doubt about that. If he chose to take a dark path, self harm would be the extent.

  59. Trae Dorn

    Wouldn’t informing Becky’s parents without her consent be a violation of FERPA? Technically, as Becky is an adult, they’re not allowed to tell her parents anything.

    (I know, I know – don’t spoil drama with inconvenient real world stuff…)

    1. wynne

      Do those tiny, crazy conservative, self-accrediting Christian colleges listen to FERPA? I mean, I guess they have to, but they might have had her sign some form waiving those rights at the beginning of the year.

    2. wynne

      Amending my previous statement: I had no idea that Anderson is a real (as in non-fictional) college. Who knows what their deal is.

      1. SDGlyph

        S’funny, I’ve been idly wondering through this arc (inconvenient reality incursion alert) what the legal position would be if Willis showed a named, real-world college kicking a student out for being gay, and they took exception. IANAL, obviously.

      2. Airyu

        lol, one of the people in my grad school went to Anderson.

    3. Tualha

      I’m pretty sure FERPA only applies to schools that take federal funds.

      1. Tom T.

        Anderson participates in federal student aid.

        1. Tualha

          … Didn’t realize it was a real university. I thought Willis made it up.

        2. Airyu

          lol, one of the people in my grad school went to Anderson.

        3. Deanatay

          IU’s also real. Beck and Clark halls are real. Heck, I think the comic book store Danny and Ethan visited is real. Willis is doing his best to ground the story in a real location.

        4. John

          Yeah, it’s where Willis does signings in Bloomington. The comic shop clerk Amber shoved when she and Danny were there is a real guy who actually works there, too. He left some comments on those strips.

          I found the AAA parking lot across from the McDonald’s where Amber beat the shit out of Blaine on Google Maps, too. It’s like a mile and a half from the library she jumped off.

        5. David M Willis

          Naw, if I made it up, it’d have a sweet jokey name, like Christypants University or something like that.

    4. Tom T.

      FERPA permits disclosure to parents if the student is a dependent for income tax purposes.

    5. Airyu

      FERPA says that if a student break a rule, and it “allows schools to disclose those records, without consent, to the following parties or under the following conditions.” Becky’s parents would fall into “appropriate parties in connection with financial aid to a student” because dorms cost money, and it’s in their digression whether Becky is moved to a different dorm etc. Also, I think because it is against Anderson University’s policy to have sex in the dorm rooms, it counts as a school judicial issue, which FERPA again grants the right of parties deemed “appropriate” to know about.

      1. Airyu

        *breaks

  60. S'toon

    I called it. She ran away.

    How about Dorothy’s dad?

    1. Opus the Poet

      I’m pretty sure she ran away from her own dad, not Dorothy’s. Thankyew, thankyew, try your waitress and tip the veal.

  61. Robert

    Maybe she should talk to Leslie instead?

  62. wynne

    1) Good job Joyce for listening to your friend and wanting to help her in a non-jerkwad way. And good job for apparently realizing that your own dad probably isn’t the best person to call either.

    2) I nominate Sierra’s dad, he of the “peaceful interference,” for dad-to-call right now. Either him or Dorothy’s father.

  63. AeroQC

    This reminds me, isn’t Joyce trying to “fix” Ethan?

    1. Scoops

      Hmm. This could change her approach.

      1. Marie

        I said the other day that I really hope that happens, and I still do

    2. Kirby

      I think her conversation with Amazigirl kind of points out that she’s not so much as trying to fix him as trying to be with someone she feels safe with.

      But yeah, I think this’ll give her a pause about her saying that to him from now on.

  64. deathjavu

    Well, I called it. With Becky’s family problem revealed, I believe she has now surpassed Amber in sadness/appearances.

    She still has a ways to go before she beats Amber in total sads (Amber has a whopping 3486 kilotears, or 0.92 Seymours)

    1. Opus the Poet

      3790 Ktears to the Seymour? I thought Seymours were an even, round number of Ktears but not a decimal function, something like 4096 Ktears = 1 Seymour.

  65. Ryan

    To Joyce’s credit, it has not once even occurred to her to shame, blame, or scold Becky, or say or imply that she’s broken and needs fixing, or do anything else on the list of bad things people do when someone comes out to them. She’s been nothing but 100% loyal and supportive, and that’s pretty cool.

    What? No, I’m not crying, I just finished cooking onions. For my tomato sauce. That I’m putting on my spaghetti. Fir dinner and stuff. Honestly.

    1. Mkvenner

      I don’t think any less of you.

    2. Thor

      Yet. It has not occurred to her yet. Or maybe it has occurred to her, but she is stalling a bit before she implores Becky to “come back to Christ”.

      Remember, even if Joyce manages to get herself around to “love the sinner; hate the sin”, this is still reeeeeeeealy awkward for her, and while trying to balance her affection for her friend and her religious beliefs, she may put a foot down wrong and have this all blow up in her face (again) yet.

      1. Gangler

        I’m pretty sure she’s just socially aware enough to tell it’d be hurtful if she took the conversation in that direction right now.

        Later once she gets a moment to herself she’ll probably get started on considering the ramifications of all this in regards to her beliefs, her relationship with Ethan, and so forth.

        1. Thor

          Joyce? Socially aware?

          YouKeepUsingThatWord.jpg

        2. John

          Joyce is not real socially aware, but her heart is huge. Put her indoctrination up against the people she loves, and her loved ones will win.

        3. StClair

          And she will blame herself for the dissonance, probably.

      2. Tom T.

        I think it’s likely to be awkward for nearly anyone to have a lifelong friend, same- or opposite-sex, confess to romantic feelings (and then insist that you must feel the same way). Many of us might put a foot wrong in that situation.

      3. Ryan

        Actually Joyce already kind of came around to “love the sinner; hate the sin” before when she stood up for Dorothy in front of her family. Call me an optimist, but I think Joyce is just a good person, and in particular, she trusts her own experience that tells her her friends are good over her religious beliefs that tell her they’re bad. (I’m sure there’s a philosophy term for this, and I’m equally sure I don’t know it.) But here, I think she’s even going farther than just “love the sinner; hate the sin” — she hasn’t done or said *anything* to even imply or hint that Becky has done something sinful. I don’t think the sinfullness has even bubbled up into her consciousness yet. Sure, she’ll think about it eventually, but she doesn’t seem to have the capacity for the automatic, *reflexive* hatred that is all too common in people. Thus my contention that she is a good person and also “pretty cool”.

        1. David

          she trusts her own experience that tells her her friends are good over her religious beliefs that tell her they’re bad.

          Or her religion is an anchor to her rather than a hammer.

          For some people there is a difference to relishing brownies and force-feeding someone who does not like them until they throw up and say they are great.

          For others, there isn’t. Some think that if they are not able to convince themselves, it may help them to convince others.

          Hey, it’s actually more or less how I acquired college math: by explaining it to others who were slower in the uptake. I probably improved my own scores more than theirs since I’d have been too lazy to work on it just for my own sake. I mean I was good, right? Good buys you nothing without practice.

          If you are firmly rooted in your religion, you tend to trust your heart rather than the books. This is what Joyce is apparently going by currently.

          When she does not know how to arrive at a solution this way, she might still turn to the book and prayer and whatnot. But not likely the forcefeeding bit.

  66. Gangler

    Carla has a room all to herself for reasons, and I’m pretty sure Joyce knows that.

    I hope this leads into them roping Carla into giving Becky a place to crash for a little bit. It’d keep Becky around and mean more screen time for Carla. Two birds with one stone.

    1. Ryan

      Unfortunately, I think “reasons” is literally all Joyce knows about why Carla has her own room.

      1. Gangler

        Yeah, I think that was one of Joyce’s comical “She doesn’t know things” moments at some point.

        Don’t think anybody knows about Carla yet though. Even within her friend circle she’s alluded to it being all “There’s a reason I’m so tall” and they haven’t been interested enough to respond “Why Carla, whatever are you referring to?”

        1. Gangler

          There we go.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-5/01-when-somebody-loved-me/introductions/

          Went and looked up the strip I was thinking of. Was actually crazy recent. So that’s how much Joyce knows.

        2. SDGlyph

          For what it’s worth, I think Sal knows, and I’m guessing Ruth would have to.

    2. Arianod

      But why would you have Becky share a room with Carla, on top of all the things she’s already going through?? Ó_Ò

      1. Gamaran Sepudomyn

        For shipping purposes?

  67. Yu'Karaya

    I don’t blame Joyce for being clueless here. Most people her age don’t know how to face real life crises. When I got turned out onto the street without a clue where to even sleep, my friends didn’t know what to say. They couldn’t exactly take me in and they had no idea where to even start, and neither did I.

    1. Thor

      Just google it.

      No seriously. “homeless gay bloomington indiana help” brings up SafeHorizon.org as the first result, complete with a toll-free help-line. There’s also the Indiana Youth Group in Indianapolis, which is just 50 miles away–a short bus ride.

      It also brings up the info that there are no gay bars in Bloomington, which is a good sign that it is a place to exit as soon as possible. For a college town of over 80k people, that’s ludicrous.

      But yeah. When life has you stumped, you can now google a few possible answers instead of stewing because you have no clue.

      1. Swoop

        No dude, Bloomington is really gay. It’s a really a LGBT friendly place. Probably the best place for a gay Hoosier outside of Indianapolis.

        1. Kelly

          Relative to the rest of the state. In the midwest, that doesn’t necessarily amount to much.

        2. Swoop

          I wouldn’t really know, I haven’t spent much time Outside of Indiana. But I don’t think A lack of gay bars means that Becky has to get out ASAP. It’s nice here.

  68. Swoop

    So is Becky homeless at this point? There’s no way in hell Joyce would leave her without a place to stay, but what can she actually do?

    1. showler

      In another universe, someone familiar to us spent weeks or months apparently sleeping on the floor in a room in the guys’ dorm.

      1. Swoop

        i’m sorry,but would you mind explaining that? I really hope I’m not missing something obvious.

        1. John

          In the Walkyverse, Billie’s housemates kicked her out, and she apparently spent the rest of the year crashing in Danny and Joe’s room. Though I think it was Danny who had to sleep on the floor.

        2. Swoop

          Thank you. I appreciate the context.

      2. Ailorn

        This also happens in Candicomics.com although technically a coed dorm, it was in a guys room.

    2. Hoboturtle

      Yes Becky keeps on appearing while leaving a vague impression that she maybe crashing in Joyce’s room, all while striving off sexual tension from leaving with Joyce.

      1. Hoboturtle

        Living* dangit

  69. showler

    Becky’s last name is MacIntyre?

    In that case, as a substitute dad can I recommend Fred MacIntire? Though, possibly circa a few years ago.

    1. MM

      They do have a pretty good track record of taking in strays.

    2. Kelly

      Damn good point! And we know they live in the same universe. Funny that no one there ever mentions the invasion though…

      1. Kelly

        (the walkyverse version that is)(presumably they have doppelgangers here, since everyone else does)

        1. Eukie

          The last time Willis included a cameo (that I actually noticed), it included someone having a great time with their dead father. If that’s the line Willis is running with cameos, I’d rather not have Fred MacIntire show up because it would probably be heartbreaking.

        2. SDGlyph

          Given today’s S*P, I wouldn’t want Becky to go over there either!

  70. Doom Shepherd

    Well, that’s two dads in this comic who need to be facepunched until the twitching stops.

    1. Solenoid

      Well, unless you’re referring to death rather than being knocked out, Blaine’s already had his dose of facepunchings.

      Well, his first dose. He may need another round of ‘medicine’.

    2. Roborat

      Yea, I want to use one to hit the other one with, until both are nothing more than stains on the ground.

  71. vmgx

    ok. list of people who will eventualy become a legion duumb: ross aded. With blaine, ryan, mary and the literal embodyment of ruth’s depression we are comig close to a super hero battle with every cast member creating a super hero persona, in a finaly of full awesomeness… kinda trailed of… the point is ross is an awful individual

  72. Jenny Creed

    Maybe Invisible Sky Dad can wave His hands and make it all better? Nah, I’m actually impressed with how Joyce doesn’t immediately worry about what God will think, what they have done to anger him or how they’re going to gain his forgiveness.

  73. 0kami

    Man, I’m tearing up from this storyline, regardless of the fact that I’m in a public place, reading this on my phone.

    Becky could room with Carla, provided if they can rally the friends (especially Sal) together and get Becky a place to crash for the time being. And if they can bring in Leslie and get more help from the school PFLAG section, so much the better.

    Sigh, I’m really hoping Becky pulls though all this. It looks as though, for all the crap she’s going through, she’s determined to remain who she knows she is. Joyce, you owe that girl a hug!

    1. Regalli

      Oh, one hopes one hopes one HOPES.

    2. Thor

      Again, that’s just a google search away. “university lgbt bloomington indiana” brings up the GLBT Student Support Services Office – Indiana University as the first search result. And what’s more Indiana University Bloomington was included in the Campus Pride list of the top 50 LGBT-friendly colleges and universities for 2014.

      This is slightly complicated by the fact that Becky is not actually a IU student. Still, it might be a good place to start finding a support network, or maybe an attractive sugar mommy.

      1. Halloween Jack

        My guess is that, if Becky even dropped the slightest hint that she was going to apply to IU, they’d work up a support network. I’d bet that there are probably more than a few members (both students and faculty) that come from a very similar family situation.

  74. GamaranSepudomyn

    This is the one situation in which Blaine getting involved could actually help. That guy needs to lose his mustache.

    1. David

      Blaine is a barber?

  75. AgentKeen

    Mary 2.0.
    Same old intolerance, but now in a cuboid and hairy package!

    1. Solenoid

      Outsides to match the insides! A new, more honest look.

  76. foolicus maximus

    nuuuu, Becky!

  77. zmm

    Becky needs an RA

  78. Kennerly

    Joe’s dad to the rescue. Giggity.

    1. Kelly

      Gross

    2. takashid

      yeah put the homeless lesbian girl in the house of the perverted father who hits on college girls!

      ………like did you think about that comment before you wrote it or

      1. Kennerly

        To be fair, Joe’s father has mostly hit on the mothers of college students.

        1. Kelly

          And your avatar. She had to threaten testicular torsion

        2. Knightsky

          Joe’s father would probably try to give Becky tips for picking up girls.

  79. Regalli

    … I didn’t realize until reading this strip and the comments and trying to articulate my feelings just how much trying to bottle my sexuality up actually probably impacted my first major depressive episode, but. Wow. Yeah. I was a mess of very-near-suicidal self-loathing before I came out. Those two things were in fact linked.

    This is not my favorite revelation over my past cognitive state ever. 🙁

    1. Kennerly

      Revelations about past cognitive states always suck. Mine got me banned from this forum and I had to make a new account.

      1. timemonkey

        Isn’t posting that like shouting ‘I’m supposed to be banned, ban me again!’?

    2. Rutee

      Empathy via light imagined physical contact, if you wish. That is just… awful.

    3. Opus the Poet

      Yep, I’m renting a room to a transwoman who has been fighting depression for years, and it wasn’t until recently that she started transitioning that the depression started to get better. Her mind was literally at war with the rest of her body because their genders didn’t match. So this happens all the time.

  80. Bluesnake462

    At this point I’m hoping that Dorothy runs into them on her way back from the interview . I feel like she could handle this situation a bit better then Joyce.

  81. cmd1095

    I must note that Joyce is reacting oddly. Her reaction to Ethan being gay was that it was a sin and a temptation to be resisted and fixed, so she does have that mentality towards the issue, but she’s accepting it with Becky and having the normal person’s appalled reaction to the “fixing” thing. However in her mind fixing homosexuality is the right course of action so… either she’s making an exception for her best friend, or perhaps the events of DoA have shifted her worldview a bit. Who knows maybe she’s just still in shock and is about to flip out at any moment

    1. Thor

      It is easy to project one’s own convictions and preferences onto a character in a story, especially when you only have a single expression as a reaction to three panels of dialog. So you may be right, however the expression could just as easily be feeling lost at sea because her default course of action “call a dad” has been unceremoniously tossed overboard. To me, it looks like the expression of someone who wants to act, but has no idea what to do.

      1. Darwin

        That’s what I’m reading. When I was that age, and something happened that I didn’t understand, I immediately went to my father. To a number of people, dad’s got the answers. He’s seen some weird stuff, and hopefully he’s seen your variety of weird stuff. So Joyce defaults to what’s natural when someone has a loving and supportive father. “Ask dad; he knows.” And when you don’t have that option, things feel off-kilter, and you just are thunderstruck into useless inaction.

        1. Halloween Jack

          I think that a lot of people are forgetting that most of the characters here are still teenagers, and Joyce and Becky (and probably Kaitlin) are from a subculture that demands that young women submit to the will of their fathers until they submit to the will of their husbands. Given that, Becky has already taken an incredible leap, and to her credit Joyce didn’t immediately go and call her dad. But they’re still kids, basically. (And before someone starts in with “But they’re eighteen!”, I’m talking about their emotional reality, not the legal threshold.)

    2. Tualha

      I think it was probably easier for her to apply the default fundie thinking to Ethan, whom she didn’t know very well, than to her best friend of many years’ standing. She’s probably got some serious cognitive dissonance going on right now. “Gays are sinners … but Becky’s not a sinner … but Becky’s gay … and gays are sinners … but Becky’s not a sinner … but Becky’s gay …”

      I think one of the major themes of DOA is going to end up being “how Joyce came to throw off her fundie conditioning and become a liberal Christian.”

      1. SDGlyph

        Being a liberal Christian myself, I’d love to see this happen. Assuming that Joyce’s often-stated autobiographical nature applies to her future and not just her past, though, I figure she’s ultimately headed towards tolerant atheism.

        (Incidentally validating her parents’ fears about Dorothy’s influence, of course, and perhaps causing them to double down on their tribal insularity, but oh well.)

        1. Kelly

          I wouldn’t count on that. Walkyverse Joyce never left Christianity behind, though she became much more open-minded.

        2. cmd1095

          She never left it it behind entirely it is true, she definitely was not one of the problematic religious folk though, so hopefully she can reach that point here too

    3. Tom T.

      I guess I don’t see it as odd to have different priorities toward someone who is in a personal crisis versus someone who is not.

    4. Gangler

      The conversation provides enough context for her to tell Becky doesn’t want to be fixed, and as a friend Joyce wants what Becky wants.

      That aside, I don’t think she’s ever gone so far as saying that gay people should be subjected to any sort of treatment against their will, so it’s not necessarily even inconsistent. Ethan was pretty receptive to the idea of being fixed.

      Not that the two fixings were identical to begin with. Joyce so far hasn’t attempted to “discipline” the gay out of Ethan, whatever that would entail. Quite likely that would be a step too far in her eyes.

    5. timemonkey

      Joyce has her own reasons for wanting to keep Ethan around, remember? Ethan’s also encouraging her behaviour for his own reasons. And Joyce knows trying to de-gay Ethan is something that would be considered wrong by her friends and is actively hiding that fact from everyone but Sarah, who knows but doesn’t care due to a disinterest in drama.

      Joyce has always been pretty reasonable about homosexuality. she reluctantly agrees it’s considered a sin but also acknowledges that it’s no worse than any other minor sin.

    6. TSB

      Joyce’s attitude has been less “Ethan is broken and I will fix him” and more “Ethan experiences sinful temptations (just like I do) and I will support him as he struggles against them”. I might be remembering wrong but I don’t think she’s said anything that implies she thinks Ethan is in any way more sinful, broken, or in need of fixing than any flawed heterosexual person.

      I realize this is splitting hairs and it’s hardly more conscionable than really trying to “fix” him. Joyce needs to better herself and stop thinking of homosexuality as a sin. But people have been really outrageously exaggerating Joyce’s attitudes this arc. I think it’s an important distinction.

      1. TSB

        Also adding to this that she doesn’t seem to really understand what homosexuality is (see: her extremely sad attempts to be attractive to Ethan). She knows Ethan is “gay” but other than Ethan giving a little extra attention to Jocelyne she hasn’t seen it. She hasn’t seen Ethan with a boy he likes or heard him talk about what it means to be gay, other than that it makes his life hard. I think seeing Becky’s actual gay attraction, and how it is exactly the same as a straight crush but directed at a same-sex person and plus godawful societal baggage, will shape her up a lot.

        1. TSB

          Ugh, okay, last comment (sorry!): I feel the need to clarify…

          I think that in Joyce’s conceptualization of homosexuality, Ethan is trying not to sin but does not to be fixed. I think if you applied her actions (trying to make Ethan attracted to her, etc) to what homosexuality actually is, she is effectively trying to change his orientation, which, yes, is “fixing” him. I think that Joyce would never think of it as “fixing” him because when she understands what homosexuality actually is, especially under the circumstances of seeing how Becky’s dad is betraying her and destroying her life, she won’t be able to bring herself to try to make him straight.

          Like, I really don’t want to make excuses for what Joyce is doing with Ethan, but some of the comments about Joyce in this arc have been really off base. She was never going to scream at Becky.

        2. Rachel Roth

          I happen to agree with you on your point here. Ethan was showing that he WANTED to be “fixed”, so Joyce is helping. Becky is saying she DOESN’T, so Joyce will probably try to find another solution. Furthermore, Joyce would probably never imagine hurting either one of them, so would probably limit her tactics to trying to make them feel good with a member of the opposite sex.

  82. Jeeves

    I do hope that this is a turning point for Joyce, that this will be her “All right then, I’ll go to hell,” moment.

    By which I mean the bit from Huckleberry Finn. The Slacktivist’s reading of it as a conversion narrative struck a chord with me: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/slacktivist/2013/11/30/today-is-the-feast-day-of-st-mark-twain/

    1. SDGlyph

      Oh hey, another Fred Clark fan? Cool. *waves*
      +1 on the actual comment, too.

    2. Halloween Jack

      From Alan Moore’s The Mirror of Love:

      While life endures we’ll love, and afterwards, if what they say is true, I’ll be refused a heaven crammed with popes; policemen; fundamentalists, and burn instead, quite happily, with Sappho, Michaelangelo, and you, my love.

      I’d burn throughout eternity with you.

  83. Raijin K

    Becky’s wearing the same things in today’s flashbacks as she was throughout the storyline. I wonder if that means it all occurs on the same day, or if she’s actually been homeless and unable to change for a while…

    1. Bluesnake462

      well she was silent for a few days or so

  84. Tualha

    Some harsh realities:

    Things like this happen all the time in these great Benighted States.

    A lot of the kids involved end up living on the streets. A lot end up doing sex work to survive.

    There are some extremely underfunded support systems in place to help them, in some cities. Never enough. They often face discrimination and harassment from other youth.

    And yes, sorry Joyce, but there usually isn’t someone’s dad, or a teacher like Leslie, or anyone else to bail them out.

    Now, Willis isn’t in the business of showing us unpleasant stuff like that, so I’m sure things will work out better for Becky. But that’s the reality for most kids in her position.

    Remember, kids! You will know they are Christian by their love!

    1. Opus the Poet

      “By their fruits will you know them” If they give you $&(%, then you know that’s what was in them all along.

      1. Arianod

        Hamen to that.

  85. Ashley

    This reminds me of the time in high school when I told a friend I’m gay and she told my mom because “she had a right to know” and “maybe she could do something about it.”

    She also told her own mom, who then told me she knew a gay guy who died of AIDS and that was gonna happen to me if I kept on this “path.”

    Turns out there’s a lot of moms, too. :/

    1. Joebo

      Leslie knows this to be so.

  86. Kabo

    They’re at university, aren’t they supposed to be grownups?

    1. Kelly

      That’s pretty theoretical, for a lot of students.

    2. Gangler

      Grown ups who are still dependent on their parents in a lot of ways. Not like you turn eighteen and the mayor drops by to hand you the key to your new apartment and a job with a livable wage.

    3. StClair

      This entire strip has been about (a) disproving that and (b) showing the process by which that actually happens (at least to some).

      1. StClair

        (and by strip I mean DOA as a whole, duh)

    4. Intie

      Not in murrica, nope.

  87. Khaner

    Becky’s dad has a perfectly square had.

    1. PbjZ

      A square-headed, double-chinned Bob Beltcher.

      1. Kelly

        Don’t watch the show, but pretty sure Bob is about 1000 times the dad this guy is.

        1. anonymsly

          Do watch the show, and am absolutely positive that Bob Belcher is 1000 times the dad this guy is. 🙂 (The Belchers are actually on my mental list of ‘most genuinely loving TV families’.)

    2. ninja_jesus

      He also kinda looks military, or former military.

  88. Jon P

    Yes, the track record for dads in this comic is unparalleled in its excellence.

  89. shoeboxjeddy

    Wow, way to throw your roomie under the bus Kaitlin. I’m sure later on in life, you won’t think back and go “Wow… what an incredibly awful thing to do that was…”

    1. Tualha

      Well, depending on how fundie she ends up being, and where she lies on the Kinsey scale, she might feel very regretful, or she might feel very angry at that horrible sinner for leading her into temptation that way.

      I have mixed feelings about Kaitlin. She did take the coward’s way out; but really, consider her situation. Her parents might be even worse than Becky’s father. She might be a minor, in which case they could ship her off to a conversion camp any time they wanted to. I have a hard time condemning someone for cowardice when the alternatives are that bad; and it seems likely that honesty on her part would not have reduced Becky’s troubles one bit, aside from a little emotional support.

    2. takashid

      yeah, I’m sure that parental arm on Kaitlin’s shoulder has NOTHING to do with it… Seriously, it seems kind of logical that her parents told her to say that stuff or else. Kaitlin did a shitty thing to Becky yeah but she was protecting herself and trying to survive.

    3. Arianod

      I remember reading Jeanette Winterson’s Oranges are not the Only Fruit in college: it’s autobiographical, and both of the author’s first lesbian crushes end similarly to Becky’s. Social pressure is a powerful thing.

    4. Halloween Jack

      I mentioned this in a previous comments thread, but think of Winston Smith in Room 101 in Nineteen Eighty-Four. (And Julia later admitted that she’d done the same.)

      1. Tualha

        It made me think of Valerie and Evey in V for Vendetta (the book, not that POS movie that I will never watch). And what Valerie wrote about the choice Ruth made, and its consequences.

        Well, there’s dealing with a totalitarian state, and then there’s dealing with a conservative university and possibly-totalitarian parents. You can escape the latter pair, eventually. It may be worthwhile to compromise with them, for a time, if the need is great enough. I don’t feel qualified to judge her.

        1. Halloween Jack

          I thought of V for Vendetta as well, and it’s appropriate both in terms of it in no small way being Moore’s reaction to Orwell’s book, not to mention certain political changes taking place in Britain at the time (the early eighties, at least at the beginning of the book). One of the disheartening things was that, when Moore finished the series in the late eighties, and wrote an afterword to the collection, he said that he no longer thought that it would take a nuclear war to send Britain into fascism. (One specific factor that he cited was Section 28; Moore and other comics creators did an anthology in protest. I quoted the end of Moore’s contribution, “The Mirror of Love”, above.)

          As for Kaitlin, yeah, I can’t really judge her either. To use the Christian example, even Peter denied knowing Jesus three times before the dawn of Good Friday.

        2. Halloween Jack

          Didn’t really finish my thought in my first sentence above; I meant both in terms of V4V being a reaction to Orwell’s book, but also in terms of what you said about Valerie and Ruth, and Valerie’s letter, and its consequences, and not just for Evey.

  90. BanHammor

    So…if she is helping Becky get away from the family that tries to “ex-gay” her, how much till she realizes how shit she treated Ethan and apologizes?

    1. ninja_jesus

      See, the difference that Joyce would think is that she’s trying to fix Ethan with “love”, while Becky’s dad is trying to fix her using “abuse”.

      1. Robin

        Also, Ethan wants to be not-gay for his parents’ acceptance.

        I mean, it’s not healthy, but Joyce doesn’t know that.

        1. The_Voices_in_your_Head

          Like Robin said, their Relationship is very different from Becky’s Situation (and still very wrong -.-)
          Becky is a Lesbian who accepts it but has others trying to force her to change.
          Ethan is a Homosexual who doesn’t want to be one, so he actually reacts well to Joyce attempts at “fixing” him with their relationship no matter how misguided it is.
          I remember he did mention he had dreams about having a Normal Husband/Wife/Kids Family … and being Gay kinda threw a wrench in that.
          Though considering the context when Joyce said she feels “Save” with him I think after the event at the Party she actually deep down knows that she feels save with him because since he’s gay he won’t touch her (if it wasn’t even outright stated, I’m not sure).
          So yeah Becky’s Situation is a case of typical Bigotry while the Ethan/Joyce Situation is a very special kind of screwed up <.<

        2. timemonkey

          Plus, she’s using him as a buffer from the things she’s afraid of.

      2. Bagge

        Another big difference is power. Ethan has no reason to put up with Joyce if he doesn’t want to (and given how much he flirts around I doubt he plans for it to be a long term solution anyway). To walk away from your family is much harder

  91. OnyxIdol

    “Father knows best” my ass.

    1. democraticMayonaise

      I’m reminded of the song from Tangled (Anyone remember that movie? I liked it) titled “Mother Knows Best” but then scold myself because of the different situations.
      Whose situation is worse? YYOU DeCIADE

  92. Anders

    At least Becky’s parents didn’t make her go to Bob Jones University. Conversion therapy is mandatory to stay enrolled and they do it on-campus.

    That place sounds like a hellhole and driving past it gives me the heebie jeebies

    1. democraticMayonaise

      “You have a heebie jeebie scale, sir?”
      “Yes, Carl. You are on it.”

  93. Lulu

    Becky dad wanted to fix her so it looks she escaped before that happened…
    So what would happen if Joyce called her own dad for help in this situation?

    1. David

      Not much good. He would (possibly after talking with his wife) call Becky’s father to deal with it because it’s best for Joyce not to be exposed to this kind of thing.

      No, that would require different parents to deal with sensibly.

  94. The_Master

    Man I was hoping for a light distraction from what I was doing

  95. Leah

    Well, this is getting way too real

  96. 0kami

    Ross McIntyre, f**k you!

    f**kyouf**kyouf**kyouf**kyouf**kyouf**kyouf**kyou!

  97. Golli

    Universities in the USA can inform parents of the students about their issues/grades etc.? That’s pretty f%^&d up system in my opinion.
    Im pretty sure that if you are an adult person (18 y.o and above) all between you and university is confidential and up to you wether you share this information with anyone or not. At least that’s how it works in my country. If Uni gave out information about me to anyone without my consents, regardless of this person relation to me, it would form a solid ground for a lawsuit.

    1. Pinja

      Becky’s dad look familiar…

      http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/009/333/bueno.jpg

    2. Melissa In Missouri

      Golli, When I was in college 30 years ago, my private colleges sent everything to the parents. My son goes to public university and he had to sign waivers if he wanted his parents to see his grades or have any access to his medical while he was at school (that is only if he is 18 or over. If the students are 17 or younger, their parents are still their guardians and have full access.)

    3. Intie

      Yeah, exactly what I thought. It’s kinda disgusting how the US treats these people as if they were kids. They are adults. If you can trust them to drive a car (and with that risk the lives of thousands of people on the road), and to send them away to live alone in some place they’ve never seen before, then you can trust them to do their own shit and to fucking drink a beer.
      Goddamn that fucking country.

      1. Bagge

        If they label homosexuality as indecency I think they can get away with reporting “disciplinary problems”… because that’s exactly the world we want to live in.

      2. Kelly

        To me that just sounds terrifying. I am glad I went to a community college and lived with my grandparents. I was not remotely ready to live on my own till my mid-20s at least.

  98. Whittier

    Wish I’d had Becky’s chutzpah at 18. Would have saved myself the grief of ten years in ex-gay “therapy”.

    1. RandomRedMage

      At least it wasn’t demon of homosexuality exorcism… some of the things they say and do to people is just…. you just do do those things to your fellow man. It ain’t right and I don’t care what that book of theirs says. Actually I do care, because above all else it says to love thy neighbor as thyself. And what I see them do all too frequently is far from love.

      1. David

        They hate their neighbor as they hate themselves. Par for the course.

      2. Whittier

        I have friends who have been through those exorcisms.

  99. Benjy

    Come to my part of Indiana, Becky. I’ll protect you. *comforting hug that blocks out all badness*

  100. chisci

    i find it sorta fucked up that joyce is becky’s childhood friend and she still thought of going to her dad about this situation. i mean, becky’s wording make it sound like he’s a fair bit of an abuser, and joyce may be naive but she’s not unperceptive. in book one she reasoned that the ryan situation could get her stuck back in la porte if her dad found out (which would have been a reasonable reaction of joyce dad’s, don’t get me wrong), and she should know how dramatic her church could be on the gay thing considering her own initial rejection of it, she could have figured out backy dad could have gone crusader on his own daughter over it. but hey, punchline

    1. No Name

      You must remember: As far as Joyce knows, homosexuality is something that can and should be fixed (remember Ethan?). There’s no reason Joyce wouldn’t have suggested calling Becky’s dad.

    2. SDGlyph

      Well, we’ve seen how good Becky can be at not talking about things. I’d say it’s quite plausible that Joyce really doesn’t know what her home situation is like. Joyce’s family would still support her in a crisis, after all, even though she recently defied them over something they saw as sinful.

      Plus, I suspect that Joyce is mentally slipping back into the context in which she knows Becky, at least a bit. That is, thinking in terms of family and homegroups rather than her new college friends.

      1. Bagge

        Two very true things. It’s kinda disturbing how easy Becky lied through the whole day while a) on the run, b) building up to kiss Joyce and c) generally having the worst situation ever. That kind of lying doesn’t just happen. It takes practice. Says something ugly about her home life right there.

        1. chisci

          that makes a lot of sense, both of you. you’re right. also, just noticed i hadn’t considered how strong she has to be to have gone through this whole day without breaking. becky is TOUGH!

        2. Bagge

          Oh yes! Becky – awesome in so many ways.

    3. timemonkey

      Sometimes you don’t know how horrible someone is until it’s too late. There are thousands of non-heterosexual children who thought they were outing themselves to good loving parents only to end up abused or thrown out for it.

    4. Arianod

      My guess is that Joyce is a: too shocked to think clearly, and b: too naïve to think that a father wouldn’t love his child above anything else.

  101. Robin

    Maybe try Amber’s dad?

  102. n

    oh joyce she’s so ignorant yet so sweet but poor becky yikes hopefully everything turns out all right

  103. heavvymetalqueen

    yep, just what I thought…ran off with just the clothes on her back. Probably spent her last money on the bus to get to Joyce. Goddamn.

    1. Halloween Jack

      I did it when I was much younger than Becky. Freedom really is just another word for nothing left to lose.

  104. Darwin

    Becky… still greatest character? Yes. We love Becky. Becky is the friend we all wish we had. It’s okay if Becky has a crush on us, and we can’t reciprocate. We will love Becky.

    1. ninja_jesus

      I wish I could change my vote to Greatest Character now. 🙁

      1. Darwin

        No kidding. I loved her because she was engaging and friendly before. Now I just wanna hug her until she believes people love her because she’s Becky and not because she meets their expectations. And even if you can’t have romance with the person you want, you can still be loved by them.

      2. Bagge

        Seconded

      3. Kelly

        You can’t *remove* the old one, but if you delete the cookies you should be able to vote for Greatest

  105. ninja_jesus

    You know, hearing the words “fix you” in the context of MOGAI people being confronted by their parents has totally ruined that Coldplay song for me.

  106. Ethan Qix

    I can’t help but feel relieved that Joyce didn’t follow Becky to that Christian colege. That would have been her instead of Kaitlin there 🙁

  107. Intie

    “Call your dad. Dads know how to make things right”
    Damn, I know a girl like that. She’s 22 and not a religious bigot.

    1. Darwin

      I wish I could do that, and I’m 38. Now… I’m going to sound like king a-hole, but I’m going to defend Becky’s father for just a moment. His reaction was born of ignorance, and yes, bigotry. but it’s because the s/n is all f’ed up. When your religious teachings exclude the biological causes of sexual attraction, you tend to believe that it’s a ‘problem’ and thus something that can be ‘fixed.’ He made an error. A horrible, awful error, but he’s not a moustache-twirling villain like Amber’s gene donor. We don’t really have any indication that he’s abusive yet. Discipline is not always screaming, striking, or destroying someone. Sometimes it is the withdrawal of privileges. We really know almost nothing about him, other than his cartoonish behavior over in that other comic and the statement that he wanted to discipline or fix Becky. He may think he’s acting in Becky’s best interests based on his religious indoctrination. Hopefully, he can come around. I doubt he will, but it’s possible he will want to reconcile with his daughter, and will make an effort to understand her.

      TL;DR Maybe he’s not bad, just ignorant.

      1. SDGlyph

        I think the badness comes from what he does with that ignorance.

      2. bleeters

        I would consider seeing your daughter as broken and in need of fixing based on that self imposed and maintained ignorance as abusive, personally.

        1. Darwin

          From a modern viewpoint, it can be viewed that way. But insular communities such as fundamentalists don’t view it that way. Prayer and their god are the answers to any problem. Bad things come because there’s sin on earth, and you have not been ‘washed in the blood of the lamb.’ Spending time on your knees and begging your god to forgive you is supposed to fix all that’s broken. I suspect he genuinely loves his daughter, and that he doesn’t want to harm her. Thus his reaction would be understandable inside his community and completely incomprehensible outside. Having spent some time in that sort of community, I have a smidge of insight into the mindset. He wants her to go to heaven. If she doesn’t, he failed her and obviously didn’t love her enough. The holy book even tells him so.

    2. Charles

      Well, hell, that’s supposed to be our job. I know I have “made things right” for my daughters on occasion. “Fixing them” was never the answer.

    3. Mr. Morningstar

      To be fair, a lot of people rely on there parents even in there early adulthood, and it’s not uncommon to have your parents bail you out of a mess, such as being in debt or breaking a law of some kind.

      Because while you may not live with them, in the back of most peoples minds, even if they know better, see there parents as being able to do anything, and while asking for help might wound your pride, you know you can count on them.

      Unless they are Ross or Blaine or basically any of the terrible parents in dumbing of age.

      1. Brady Kj

        My parents weren’t terrible, but I can’t imagine myself ever thinking they have a way of making things right.

  108. tenkiforecast

    One of my sister’s friends from high school grew up in a Mormon household, realized he was gay, and proceeded to do everything to hide it from his parents. He knew if they found out, he’d be disowned.

    Because your religion is more important than loving/protecting your children. Becky…is in that situation. Because no matter what, she has no good choices available to her right now.

    (Follow-up, my sister’s friend is doing fine, last I heard–living in San Francisco with a long-term partner and financially stable)

  109. Aeron

    “Son, I am disappoint” Dad has become a Dumbingverse character!

  110. maxlines

    Enlist, Becky. Be all you can be.

    1. Halloween Jack

      Still a big problem with sexual assault in the military, FYI.

  111. PheonixGRX

    I am sure Becky would fit in well at that school, after all, a lot seem to have the same taste in dating as her 😀

  112. Thomas

    The “somebody else’s dad” they should call is Walky’s mum, who knows the Dean & probably can get Becky enlisted at IU. It’s only four weeks after the start of the first semester, after all.

    1. Leonou

      I fear that money would still be an issue … but yeah that would be the best possible solution.

    2. Luzahn

      Are there LGBT scholarships? That seems like a think that should exist.

      1. Regina Phalange

        LGBT scholarships are a thing, but only at certain schools. And usually transfer students don’t get merit money to state schools unless they have transfer specific scholarships

      2. Halloween Jack

        http://glbt.indiana.edu/Scholarships%20and%20Financial%20Support.php

      3. Whittier

        There are some. If it hadn’t been for the LGBTQ scholarship at my alma mater (Metropolitan State-St. Paul), I couldn’t have graduated.

  113. The Seeker

    Waiting for more!

  114. KiTA

    Having just read up on the horrors of Ex-Gay Conversion “Therapy”… she definitely did the right thing running away.

  115. Bagge

    Nooo, the blue panels are not friendly and happy and full of Becky-kissies any longer. They are full of Becky-tears and Ross who is a jerkhole. GET OUT OF THE BLUE PANELS, ROSS.

    Adorable Joyce is still edging closer. She’s almost on hugging distance now.

    I repeat. If only there was a future president and a superhero with daddy issues and a gay best friend on the grounds tonight. HRM. I SAID, IF ONLY THERE WAS A FUTURE PRESIDENT AND SUPERHERO WHO CAN COME AND HELP RIGHT NOW PLEASE!!!

    1. Shawn L.

      Or maybe a Cheerleader/Problem-Solver? Oh wait she’s probably still involved in hanky-panky right about now.

      1. Rachel Roth

        Oh crud, a 3way I might actually support! Bad idea, me, Bad idea!

        1. Bagge

          I’m not sure sexy lesbian suicide pact is the logical next step for Becky

  116. Mr. Morningstar

    God damn it Ross.

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Holy fuckng shit.

  117. Sigurther

    You know, presumably, by the time most people are in college, they are legal adults. Could this be not so much a case of running away as spontaneously moving out? Without packing? Or telling anyone?

    1. Arianod

      Legal adults, yeah. Able to make a living and provide a roof for themselves, probably not so much.

  118. Thomas Wrobel

    Call amazing girl, I am sure she wouldn’t mind “fixing” someone elses dad for them.

  119. Bagge

    Ross didn’t want his daughter to stay in a school that didn’t accept her the way she was.

    #RoseColoredGlasses

    1. Regina Phalange

      Right, and when he said “fix” her, he didn’t mean “make her straight,” he meant “fix her up! With another girl!” #optimism

      1. Bagge

        He wanted to help fix her up with Joyce and called her parents, but Becky thought it was embarrassing and went to see Joyce on her own and borrowed her phone to see if the parents had called already. That’s what this whole drama is about, right?

        #RoseColoredGlassesExtraStrength

      2. Rachel Roth

        No, probably more like get her a surgical strap-on.
        #NotSureThatsMuchBetter

    2. Bill

      Hello Mark Antony and Cleopatra — the King and Queen of De Nile!!

      1. Bagge

        De Nile??? Noooo, it’s not even a river, just a little creek. Look, my feet are hardly wet…

    3. xKiv

      #RossColoredGlasses

      1. Bagge

        Nooooo – those make everything look like shit

  120. Shawn L.

    Well so much for benefit of the doubt… Butthole, indeed.

  121. 0kami

    To paraphrase Calvin from “Calvin and Hobbes”,

    “I’ve got an idea for a TV sitcom called, ‘Father Knows Zilch’.”

  122. Alix

    Oh gahd, this story keeps getting worse… Group hug for Becky!

  123. brumagem

    Call Sierra’s dad, he’s pretty cool.

    1. Arianod

      Yeah, maybe Sierra’s parents have always secretly wanted a second daughter? It wouldn’t hurt to try Ó_Ò

  124. SonicBlueRanger

    So the storyline I choose to start fully reading this strip is one wit emotional distress and Joyce’s worldview being challenged?

    So basically the perfect story.

  125. HMRC4EVR

    I know some really great parents in other web comics like Sandra’s dad and Clouds parents from Sandra and Woo. It’d mean a crossover, but to help Becky find someplace safe to heal it could work well.

    Plus, duh…crossover!

    (just kidding! But she does need a safe place to land on her two feet and soon)

  126. OmegaDez

    511 comments!!!
    I’m quite impressed at how many people post here.

    Joyce is taking this quite well, she’s maturing.

  127. Killjoy

    My impression of this Joyce is that she’s a good person, and that’s going to win out over anything else when it comes to moments like this.

    I think she does love Becky, just obviously in the way Becky wanted.

  128. Jen

    Aw. Poor Joyce. Her worldview that dads are superheroes who can always fix things is shattering. (Obviously, ‘poor Becky’ more than ‘poor Joyce’, but I think that speaks for itself.) 🙁

  129. bleeters

    Becky’s dad should meet Ethan’s mother some time. They can totally bond on how they’re both terrible people who have no business raising a child. And then fall under a bus or something.

    1. Airyu

      sounds like a peachy ol’ time

    2. Rachel Roth

      Fall? No, no, no. Get thrown? Hmmm, maybe by their children? Yes, now that’s an evil little plot twist.

      1. NotPiffany

        Hey, an alternate reality Hansel and Gretel. Could be fun.

  130. Mitsukara

    Blaine and Ross should run into each other and get into an ultimate deathmatch.

    Hopefully a double-knockout.

  131. Gigafreak

    “How about calling somebody else’s dad? There are a lot of dads.”

    I can imagine the Becky-gets-counseling-from-somebody-else’s-dad exchange now.

    “Well you see, sir, it starts with how I found out I’m gay.”
    “Pleased to meet you, Gay. I’m Dad!”

    I’m easily amused, shut up

    1. Mitsukara

      He’s not actually a father, just some dude named Dad.

      1. Mitsukara

        But now for some reason I’m just picturing Ethan wearing a hilarious fake moustache, to somehow redeem the honor of rad moustaches. Like Super Mario.

        So basically it’s Ethan in the middle of some sort of cosplay?

      2. Airyu

        like in Fairly Odd Parents?

    2. Gigafreak

      “Can I really go on like this?”
      “I don’t know. Can you?

      …Seriously, you’re the only one who can answer that.”

  132. Chubsius

    Joyce: “Ethan, help!”
    Ethan: “…You should really go talk to Amber, she was much better at this sort of thing than I ever was.”

  133. Halloween Jack

    “Hello, operator? I’d like to place a call to an alternate universe. It’s an emergency. I… what? Oh, it’s basically another universe. This one takes place within a comic strip. I’d… sorry? No, I’m not ‘on something.’ I’m just very worried about… hello? Hello?”

    1. Bagge

      “That’s the third call today. Who IS this Becky anyway?”

  134. MrBurrows

    In case anyone missed it, Willis did a guest-strip/cross over for Something Positive that gives us an update on how Drew is doing.
    http://www.somethingpositive.net/

    1. NotPiffany

      This is why I can’t support Becky moving in with Davan and Fred in SP’s Bedford, even though it would allow a possibility of Peejee “handling” Ross.

  135. Charles

    A proper way to fix her would have been to take her out of the emotional shithole that is a fucked up christian college.

    There, problems fixed.

    1. SDGlyph

      That’s kind of what he did.
      I don’t think the Christian college was as fucked-up a shithole as her dad’s house, frankly.

    2. Just Here

      Since Becky is (presumably) over 18, she’s outside his legal control. All he can do is cut her off from financial support. Which totally sucks, but there are ways to handle it.

      Pen Jilette once said he was a Libertarian because he didn’t know what was best for anyone else. Ross needs to learn that.

  136. Cattus

    All this tragedy needs is for Joyce’s mother to arrive at the school for some reason and find Becky there. I’m sure that she would know of the “incident” and that would create a major issue between her and Joyce. There’s rarely a good outcome when dealing with ultra-conservative bible thumpers. They “know” they are right and that their solution is the right solution.

  137. davidbreslin101

    So, seriously, do Christian universities in the US actually have the power to censure their students’ sex lives? How would that be legal?

    1. StudentX

      A lot of Christian universities make students sign agreement upon registration banning such thing as homosexual conduct, sex outside of marriage, that kind of thing. Thus, they are given permission to censure said activities.

    2. showler

      Trinity Western University in British Columbia is currently in a legal battle with the Law Society of Nova Scotia. They are a Christian school and they want to start a law school. Nova Scotia has said that their graduates can’t “article” in NS unless TWU eliminates their student covenant that bans “sexual relations outside a traditional heterosexual marriage”.

      1. Marie

        It’s not just Nova Scotia, the law society of BC voted not to license them either, with good reason.

        1. showler

          If I recall correctly, BC did license them at first, but when they used that as proof that NS should license them, BC revoked their license instead.

    3. Gravatarnator

      BYU even requires students to sign not to drink caffeine.

    4. Betty Anne

      Actually, any private university can (though it’s arguably mostly Christian universities that do). Even some public universities have a “code of conduct” for the dorms that puts limits on some or all of the students’ behaviors while within the dorm. My university had a “girls-only” dorm on it until a couple of years ago, and it was pretty much to cater to the international students’ parents and handful of American students’ parents who wanted to ensure there were no boys in their precious snowflake’s dorm building to potentially lure them into “shenanigans.” There was actually a minor protest lodged by those same parents when the dorm was fully integrated, including a few parents who threatened to pull their daughters out of the university if the dorm didn’t remain girls-only.

      Hate to break it to both universities and parents, but your college students are adults. And, even though plenty of them are dumb enough to burn popcorn or macaroni in a microwave, they’re still frequently smart enough to get around asinine, draconian rules.

  138. Mattyos

    As much as it annoys me that I can now use this on anyone but Ross O’Donavan….

    GOD DAMMIT ROSS!!!!

    1. Rachel Roth

      Replace MIT with n, and I’ll agree with your statement. Although if God was changed to Wills…

      I may have gotten too much evil juice from this strip.

  139. Chris

    In spite of all the drama, I really love the way Willis is giving Joyce reasons to change… That we get to watch the process of her growth. I can’t wait to see what she’s like after a month of in-universe growth. I’ll pop back in 2020 to find out.

  140. Betty Anne

    I’m not quite ready to say Kaitlin threw Becky under the bus. Read the comments, then went back and read the strip again, and something’s just not ringing right with Becky’s statement, “She told everyone I was a bad influence or something like that.” That sounds like Becky didn’t hear it directly – she just heard an explanation from a third party. For parents who are militantly anti-gay, even something as simple as, “We were just hanging out and it just kind of happened,” gets twisted in their own brain into, “I was innocently sitting there as the innocent, not-at-all-anything-but-straight good girl, and she fiendishly lured me into doing something wrong and bad.” Kaitlin’s parents “only wanted her moved into another room,” so that suggests they think their daughter is 110% straight and will never, ever show any homosexual tendencies or behaviors if she’s with someone else who’s 110% straight. It’s a form of self-delusion people who are unable to cope with challenges to their worldview often partake in.

    Becky’s dad, on the other hand, seems to acknowledge that Becky is other than straight, but he sees it as something to “fix,” like a disease or a broken bone. It’s just as ugly and hurtful, but it’s more immediately in your face. Becky did the right thing by running away from him, but hopefully Joyce will be able to get her connected to the right resources so she can stay away. Kaitlin will have to deal with her own shit and the ruined relationship between her and Becky on her own time and her own dime, now – hopefully Becky won’t also have to go through it alone.

    1. Bagge

      I think you are right there. Also, I hardly believe anyone involved payed much attention to anything Kaitlin or Becky actually had to say – and they definitely were not allowed to talk to each other.

      For all we know Kaitlin has desperately tried to contact Becky for just as long as Joyce.

      1. lordoftheoneyedpurplepeopleeaters

        to be honest if i were Becky i wouldn’t want to talk with Kaitlan after she sold me out just to stay in college even though she was just as guilty as Becky in having the make out session

        1. lordoftheoneyedpurplepeopleeaters

          i mean willing not guilty impropper wording choice my bad

  141. artemi

    I know this isn’t the thing to focus on, by Becky has the same triangle (triforce?) freckle pattern as Ruth. This has got to be some sort of Willis Redhead Clone trickery!

  142. MLBlue

    Makes me wonder if Ross and Fred Phelps were college buddies…

  143. Trae Dorn

    It just strikes me as odd, because when I worked for Housing when I was in college we were strictly forbidden from disclosing violations of the judicial code to parents — but that just might have been my college’s interpretation.

  144. Luzahn

    …Oh no, Willis made a character model of Ross. Now I’m really worried he’s going to show up.

    1. Kim

      is it just me or does the full version of Ross (from Willis’ twitter) look a lot like Tim Schaeffer?

  145. democraticMayonaise

    Hey, when I checked there were 666 comments! Cool!
    All Hail Sanat.
    Everyone loves our lord Sanat.
    Sanat is our king.

    1. Gigafreak

      You’d better not shout
      You’d better not cry
      You’d better be good
      I’m telling you why
      Sanat Claus is coming to town

  146. EpikAlia

    Hey, she could try asking Amber’s dad. He might have some good ideas.

    1. Yotsuyasan

      No. Not a good idea.

      1. EpikAlia

        Our gravatars make this conversation very interesting.

  147. chris73

    That third panel suggests something else happening as well, hope I’m wrong about it

  148. Tim

    Mike set Becky’s dad on fire in Shortpacked! a good while back. I have no idea which strip though.

  149. Jadedcynic

    I am SOOO glad Becky got her looks from her mom…

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