288

Heard
Posted on June 24, 2017 by David M Willis

288 thoughts on “Heard”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    NOPE, HAVE NOT HEARD ABOUT JUSTICE LEAGUE MOVIE

    or Transformer Knight

    1. Ana Chronistic

      damn it Willis, you’re not gonna resolve this cliffhanger for like two years, are you T_T

      1. Reltzik

        Worse.

        It’s going to be two COMIC years.

        1. inqntrol

          So twenty years in real life?

        2. Doctor_Who

          One million years dungeon!

        3. Clif

          Eat at Arby’s.

        4. Delicious Taffy

          If several time skips happen, sure.

        5. John

          More like a century. A DoA week per real-time year is pretty typical. Though I think they’ve been slowing down.

        6. Reltzik

          Exactly! Exponential decay! A century is what we’re looking at AT THE PRESENT SPEED. But because it’s slowing down, it will take far longer than that.

        7. Reltzik

          ….. at least I HOPE it’s exponential decay. If it’s a dampening thing, it might just stop and we’ll NEVER get there.

          At least with exponential decay, while we’ll still never get there, at least we won’t stop either.

        8. Chris Phoenix

          Actually, with exponential decay you _will_ eventually get there. The first week takes 2 years. The second week takes 4 years. The 3rd week takes 8 years… every week takes some finite number of years.

          Now, unfortunately, that means your statement used hyperbole. And a hyperbola will, indeed, never get there.

        9. Reltzik

          ….. huh. I was taking it to mean that the first year of real time corresponded to one week of comic time, the second year of real time corresponded to half a week of comic time, etc.

        10. thejeff

          You might not.
          2 years is 104 weeks. Following that exponential decay it would take 2^104 years ~ 2e31 years. (Actually that’s not quite right – that’s just how long the last week takes. But all the previous weeks together take less time than that, so it really doesn’t change the analysis much.)
          That’s obviously long past Willis’s (or our) expected lifespans. It’s long past the Sun’s expected lifetime. It’s far longer than the current age of the universe.
          Long enough for stellar formation to cease and stars to either have burnt out or fallen into black holes.

          It is however not long enough for a majority of nucleons in the universe to decay, so I guess that’s something.

          (All according to my casual knowledge of modern astrophysics and a bit of Googling. Mostly I just like big numbers and exponential functions. )

        11. MrSpkr

          Oh, so we will finally get there around the same time as the heat death of the universe.

        12. Marsh Maryrose

          The last time I did the math:

          1 comic year = 61.75 real-world years

          So unless the Singularity occurs, plan on having yourself frozen and then revived sometime in 2040.

        13. Marsh Maryrose

          Er, 2140. By 2040 we’ll only be about four more months in-comic.

      2. iforgetwhatiputhere

        6 volumes later, it turns out they were all in purgatory all along

        1. miados

          or all just tales of someone looking in a snowglobe.

        2. CoffeeStained

          “It was all a dream? No more peanut butter pickle pizza before bedtime anymore.”

      3. IllogicalBobcat

        I’d put it off as long as possible, people will be upset when Amber’s in jail awaiting trial. You’re generally not allowed to use a weapon taken from an assailant against said assailant.

        1. Victor

          You are if the assailant is still attempting to attack you. You’re at risk of having the weapon taken back.

    2. TamiDOA

      So Amber, Ethan, Dorothy AND Ryan are camped out in line to get tickets and Joyce/Danny asked them to pickup extras for them?

  2. Dara

    Aaaaand now we’re looping back around.

    1. Clif

      There’s the shoe that was waiting to drop.

  3. Pablo360

    Well shit

    1. Knuf Wons

      Water hole defecation

  4. timemonkey

    GASP! Someone littered

    1. GuruBuckaroo

      Someone call Amazi-gi… shit.

      1. Orion Fury

        I think it’d be safer than calling Amber, ‘specially if spiders are involved.

  5. TheAnonymousGuy

    1 joyce don’t hate yourself

    2 is that tape still there from ambers thing?

    1. Yumi

      I mean, see: hovertext

    2. Needfuldoer

      Probably? It’s been a couple weeks since Joyce’s thing, and that didn’t happen on the stairs.

  6. fillerusername

    Wow, so people do know…

    1. Reltzik

      They don’t know the REAL truth. All they have is the police line.

      ….

      *flees for dear punning life*

      1. zoelogical

        YOU CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH

        1. Flakky

          Depends… Is it delivered by Mike?

        2. Eldritch Gentleman

          Of course you can’t. Removing the police tape is illegal.

      2. Delicious Taffy

        Something about Joyce holding a woman’s hand on tape.

    2. miados

      Well it happened late at night and depending on how soon this is after and if the police are talking to people it might not be well known beyond maybe rumors.

      1. Solenoid

        three days later

  7. Yumi

    NOISES

  8. Shiro

    FINALLY! Do we get satisfaction tomorrow, maybe, hopefully? *crosses fingers*

    1. Emperor Norton II

      Oh, you sweet summer child…. No. We will not.

      1. bryy

        It’ll take probably a month at most.

        1. Woobie

          Comic month?

        2. Clif

          Satisfaction will not be achieved in a month. Either timeline. The question you have to ask yourself is do you really want to know,

        3. Kinoko

          “Now, you’re looking for the secret, but you won’t find it, because of course, you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to work it out. You want to be fooled.”

          *cue like 20 drowned Ryan corpses in glass cases* 😛

      2. Reltzik

        Dammit! You and me, Willis! A duel! I DEMAND SATISFACTION.

        …..

        *totally setting himself up there*

        1. Yumi

          This caused “Ten Duel Commandments” to start playing in my head.

        2. ditrysia

          Same

        3. miados

          I drew exodia. nice try though.

        4. Orion Fury

          I thought that was impossible.

        5. Delicious Taffy

          Only if you don’t have cursed pharaoh gold around your neck.

        6. Orion Fury

          Stupid 3D puzzle…

        7. MatthewTheLucky

          Aaaah! Exodia! No one’s ever been able to draw him!

        8. Delicious Taffy

          He’s one of the most powerful cards in Duel Monsters!

        9. Yumi

          Really? Is that because it’s so rare?

        10. miados

          no its because you have to have all 5 pieces of him in your hand at the same time and you can only have one of each piece in a deck. its an auto win impact to the came. plus that limits options if three of your six cards are pieces it means you have 3 less options to play.

        11. Yumi

          Hi.
          This was a Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged series reference.

        12. miados

          oh i dont know the abriged beyond a few meme type things.

    2. BBCC

      Patreon is only $5 a month if you can afford that~

      1. Shiro

        But then we’re right back to the same situation tomorrow!

        1. BBCC

          Well, yeah, but you know what happens tomorrow. 😛

        2. Needfuldoer

          What is today, but yesterday’s tomorrow?

    3. jimbotherisenclown

      Subscribe to the Patreon and find out!

  9. butting

    Who will Amazi-Girl the litterers if Amazi-Girl is gone?

    1. Fart Captor

      Sadly, Amazi-Girl was the litterer this time. She’s gonna have to do like, HOURS of community service to make up for just leaving that mangled corpse on the stoop

      1. butting

        I’d be kinda okay with her leaving a few lightly-battered bros around the place pour encourager les autres

        just, y’know, so long as it was part of a properly-supervised course of treatment?

      2. Showler

        Amazi-girl wasn’t there. Unfortunately.

    2. Reltzik

      Given that the litterers are the police, it’s probably best if no one Amazi-Girls them.

      Also, way to verb the noun.

      1. Woobie

        Verbing weirds nouns.

        1. Reltzik

          What verbing does to adjectives is even stranger.

          …..

          ….. on reflection, I don’t even WANT to know what verbing does to adverbs.

        2. Knuf Wons

          I will quickly that experience then!

        3. Clif

          Also the weirding of verbed nouns is easily reversed by the process of renounification.

        4. Reltzik

          I renounce your renounification!

        5. Reltzik

          That doesn’t count. That’s just verbing an adverbed adjective.

        6. Sensei Le Roof

          Did you accidentally something?

        7. Reltzik

          THAT, in turn, was a verbed noun preceded by an adverbed adjectived noun.

    3. Marianne

      Lucy becomes Amazi-girl, of course. And, you know, actually relevant to this comic.

    4. Eldritch Gentleman

      It will be Nostromo all over again. Without Kondrad Kur… I mean without Amazi-girl the whole campus will be reduced to a lawless hellscape!

  10. Fart Captor

    It turns out, Amber can’t run very fast while smacking her ass and duckfacing at the police :/

    1. Reltzik

      “Cops” footage or it didn’t happen.

  11. Sporky

    Well this is foreboding as shit

  12. Ferdinand Rosenthal

    Ethan? Why Ethan?

    1. LynziGraye

      I figured it was because of his status as Amber’s bestie, but Willis surprises me regularly. I reserve the right to be wrong!

      1. Fart Captor

        That was my read as well. She’s asking about him either because he might be in a position to know what’s going on with Amber, or because she knows they’re really close and is worried about him as well. Or both.

    2. TheAnonymousGuy

      could he have come along and intervened?

      1. fillerusername

        I doubt it. I’m assuming that whatever went down all they really know is that it involved Amber and knowing Ethan is Amber’s best friend she probably thinks he knows something.

      2. Eldritch Gentleman

        Or maybe he helped hide the body or something along those lines.

    3. Tomas

      I’m guessing Ethan is Amber’s emergency contact. And Danny probably HAS seen Ethan; they share Amber’s secret. He’s just playing dumb for her sake.

      1. Flakky

        Danny and Ethan are probably going to feel even more guilty about any possible shenanigans.

        Though with Amber’s luck, she’ll be catatonic or otherwise away exactly till the day Ethan and Danny tie the knot.

    4. zoelogical

      ethan is super close to amber. joyce and danny are both close to ethan and dorothy, but joyce isn’t close to amber. so i guess i think that’s why it makes sense for joyce to ask after ethan

      EVEN IF I’M REALLY FREAKING CURIOUS ABOUT AMBER

    5. CJ

      Didn’t she go with Ethan to that Gay Pizza thing and ran into Danny?

    6. Grethelwveir

      Ethan was kind of Joyce’s unofficial escort around campus for bad days even after they broke up. He makes her feel safe because a) he’s big (tall and broad), and b) her brain registers him as “not even remotely a risk factor” due to his sexuality. Thinking about it, she was probably going to go someplace, got a few steps out the door, and just- couldn’t. She then likely contacted him for help, since, I think he’s the only one (except maybe Dorothy) who knows about this specific manifestation of her trauma. And she was just waiting for him when the list got leaked.

      1. Eldritch Gentleman

        It makes a horrifying amount of sense considering that her personal bogeyman CAME to the Campus. She is sitting in the very spot where he attacked Amber and Dotty.

        1. Kinoko

          Also, since Dorothy saw what went down, she probably told Joyce. Even if Joyce doesn’t know Amber (sans mask) very well, she has a lot of ties to this situation. Ryan was after Dorothy AND Joyce, and Amber intervened. Joyce also knows that Amber is Ethan’s best friend.

  13. TimeLoss

    I wonder, is Joyce looking at her hand in reference to the glass smashing on Ryan’s face back in Book 1? Or could it be that she somehow got involved in the events that happened three days ago?

    1. Mandy

      I kind of thought it was because it looks like she’s finally taken off her wrist brace.

      1. TimeLoss

        Oh yes, that too. Could be she is remembering how Amazi-Girl saved Becky and she punched Toedad. The “good” Amazi-Girl and not whatever horror Amber did three days ago.

        1. Fart Captor

          The way she’s looking at her palm leads me to believe she’s thinking about the cuts she got on her hand when she slashed Ryan’s stupid face up

        2. miados

          or taking off the wrist guard thing was like getting rid of a crutch (her ability to be out by herself being the limp) and wondering if maybe she really is or isnt ready.

    2. Cephalo the Pod

      I’m pretty sure it’s another glass-smashing reference. She’s done it before.

    3. Reltzik

      That’s her trauma hand, due to both the glass-smashing AND the Toedad smashing. She does that everytime she’s angsty and/or anxious.

    4. John

      She does that when she’s feeling angsty. She’s developed the mannerism since the face-glass incident. I’ve got five different incidences of it marked in my timeline, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have them all (I don’t have this one, at least). It didn’t occur to me to record them until well after the fact, and I haven’t been back through to do a comprehensive survey of it, because some of the ads have been making the site damn near unusable for me for months now. (This is also part of the reason the timeline in general is months behind.)

      1. Needfuldoer

        Try using a private/incognito browser window for archive research. That should ignore existing cookies and give you the same generic ads any new reader will see.

        1. Time Sage

          Or you know, adblock

  14. Hellespont

    Doink doink

  15. Nono

    Couldn’t Joyce ask Jacob? They are roommates after all.

    1. Fart Captor

      She probably could, but Danny’s right there

      1. Sensei Le Roof

        Does it really matter where Danny’s right?

  16. Passchendaele

    *is struck by huge mood whiplash*

    honestly I was hoping we wouldn’t be able to see the aftermath, because I want closure but I know this is going to screw everyone and everything up, because I think we just had a serious shift to the character dynamic, especially between everyone and Amber. ‹.‹

    1. Ivanka the Terrible

      Technically it could be played for comedy!

      I mean, Amber is probably being arrested for vigilantism, but NOT the amazi-girl thing… the posting a random guy’s photo and trying to start a pitchfork mob to go after him instead of reporting it to the police thing, which is also illegal for different reasons and will depending on the state massively complicated claiming self-defense or negate it entirely on the hilariously-named “fightin’ words” principle!

      Maybe it’ll be played as a comical misunderstanding and it’ll end in the police chasing her and Joe through various doors in a long hallway set parallel to the camera while yakkety-sax plays. It will never be explained how Joe got into the scene, but she’ll pause briefly to say “don’t rate people, Joe” before they switch and accidentally chase the police through a couple doors for a change.

      (Disclaimer: pretty definitely not. BUT MAYBE.)

      1. Joe Covenant

        It could also be flipped…

        “This churchy girl stuck a glass in my face…”

        “And why didn’t you report this? I was afraid for my life. One of her friends hit me in the head with a baseball bat…”

        Two main characters go to jail.
        (Can’t claim self-defence… no proof! But there are a LOT of witnesses to Ryan ‘being attacked’.)

        N.B. All the above written without checking the archive! 🙂

  17. MM

    Oh, man, those are some scared eyebrows in Panel 2.

    1. JessWitt

      Indeed. Concerned, troubled eyebrows.

  18. Reltzik

    Ethan?

    How’s Ethan involved?

    Is he just the way of contacting Amber? Did he stumble into the fight and things really went south?

    ….

    Also, idiot me is JUST REALIZING that there might be a reason that Joyce was extra-mad about Joe’s ranking of Dorothy yesterday.

    1. fillerusername

      I’m guessing she just assumes Ethan might have the most secondhand information considering he’s Amber’s best friend. She probably assumes if Amber is in touch with anyone on campus it would be Ethan.

      1. miados

        or well he is there why not ask while she is at it. or maybe she is asking everyone as they leave the building?

  19. Lingo

    ETHAN? What about Ethan?!? What have you done with our precious Ethan?!?

    1. miados

      depending on the events it might be that he has been freaking out over what happened to his best friend.

  20. Rukduk

    Well, shit. The cops got involved. That means Amber might be in trouble, depending on scarboy’s father’s connections and or how willing the cops were to believe Amber and Dorothy. And is Ethan being brought in as a character witness or something. Shit shit shit shit.

    1. Woobie

      Amber nor Dorothy is obliged to contact he police.
      Not saying that would be the best way to handle it.

      1. thejeff

        Not obliged perhaps, possibly depending on exactly what went down, but given that the police are involved they will definitely want to talk to both Amber and Dorothy – as witnesses or persons of interest.

        At some point, they really will be obliged to talk to the police. The longer they avoid it, if they have been doing so, the worse it’s likely to be.

        1. Needfuldoer

          Someone was bound to find the blood stain and tiny pieces that used to be not-Ryan eventually.

          This sounds like the cold open to a police-procedural written by Donald P. Bellisario…

        2. Victor

          You are never obligated to talk to the police. There are times when it may be in your best interest to do so, but it’s generally advisable to have your attorney present.

        3. thejeff

          True. Well, there are cases, but they’re few and far between.

          You are however, in some circumstances, obligated to be in contact with the police. Like when they come to question you about the stabbed rapist and the bloody knife in your hand. Now, it might be that all you tell them is “I’d like to speak with my lawyer”, but they’re not just going to leave you alone. Which is all I really meant.

    2. miados

      they not ryan died than probably a good idea to report the specifics to the police so its self defense and not something of a murder investigation. if ryans not dead and they dont report it he could report it as an assault which if they seem like they were trying to hide it makes it seem like his side is the right side to many peoples eyes.

      just my thought on it.

    3. Ivanka the Terrible

      The main complication in real life is posting the picture and trying to incite a mob to go after the guy. That’s… actually how vigilantism _usually_ looks, she sort of graduated from comic-book vigilante to real-life felon with that move.

      So it’s not so much a matter of the guy getting away with things (he most definitely will not, not with witnesses who can spot him in a lineup etc). It’s a question of how real Willis is going to play it on Amber getting away with kicking his ass… even on the light end, her illegal transgression against him might be considered enough of a threat to be ‘starting the fight’ and invalidate her claim of self-defense. On the _bad_ end… federal wire fraud and conspiracy to commit any number of things, possibly terrorism if the feds are feeling railroad-ey or pondering the guy being a congressional aide.

      (I forget if Amber was the one who posted the picture or just involved in spreading it, but either way this applies. You don’t really get to start your own manhunts… from the perspective of the feds, every single such group _thinks_ they’re after a rapist or whatever but 99% of the time in history it’s actually been a lynch mob going after random minorities or unrelated people.)

    4. Joe Covenant

      Amber could also be wrapped up in a nice white coat in a hospital and Ethan is trying to reach her. 🙁

  21. lia47

    “””overtly””””””””””

  22. Stephen Bierce

    Used to be so natural to talk about forever
    “Used to be”‘s don’t count anymore
    They just lay on the floor till we sweep them away…

  23. Zaidyer

    Ding dong, the demon’s dead! Everybody dance!

  24. Emperor Norton II

    OK, so from one heavy story-line to another…

    One, for those wondering a bit here, Ethan is probably hiding Amber, and by extension himself. Joyce obviously knows what happened that night, so even if nobody’s told her, she can put two and two together.

    And fat chance that Dorothy did not tell her what happened. Because by now, their bond is strong enough to be a foundation for a skyscraper.

    Two: I think Danny is outright lying to Joyce here. I think he’s heard from at least Ethan, and possibly Amber directly. I think he also does not mean any harm in not telling Joyce this; he simply does not want her to possibly become an accomplice in this. I can understand this motivation. I’m not sure I could have done it like him; because I’m just too bloody honest by nature.

    1. Kelandrea

      I love this theory because then MAYBE AMBER IS GONNA BE OKA- oh wait she’s on the run from the law and they probably know it’s her and oh god so many things…
      Suddenly hoping she’s in a mental hospital getting treatment because that is the best case scenario maybe.

      1. Woobie

        Mental hospitals, in my experience, are not positive experiences. One is not always helped.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I can back this one up. There were some sick fucks in the one I was coerced into.

        2. BBCC

          Yeeeep. As with any hospital, it depends which one you’re in. Abusive hospitals exist and they’re very dangerous for psychiatry.

        3. drs

          The local one in the comic worked a miracle for Ruth.

        4. zoelogical

          i mean they gave her antidepressants and then released her in a few days

          idk let’s see how their follow-up goes

        5. drs

          Antidepressants and *group therapy*. The drugs wouldn’t have worked much yet.

        6. Halpful

          true, although I think she got magic drugs that run on our time instead of comic-time, for the sake of moving the plot along.

        7. BBCC

          Ruth did say they shouldn’t work yet. Some people do get a big rush from starting meds, partially out of optimism and relief, and that sometimes holds over until the meds start working.

        8. Chris Phoenix

          Some antidepressant drugs can work very fast, sometimes, for some people. I know two people who felt better less than 24 hours after their first Wellbutrin pill.

        9. Halpful

          neat, I haven’t tried wellbutrin.

          with effexor, the day I felt best was when I had the prescription in my hand.

        10. Deathstalker

          Some proscribed for anxiety, made me suicidal the next day. I wasn’t prior to taking them. Fuck no to trying them again.

        11. thejeff

          Not always helped, no. But Amber certainly needs help from somewhere. She’s not headed in a good direction on her own and her support network isn’t up to the task.

      2. Grethelwveir

        Honestly, given that Amber and AG are now (if they haven’t always been) fully dissociated from each other, I’m hesitant to wish mental health professionals on them. There are good therapists/counselors/doctors, and bad therapists/counselors/doctors, but “good” ones are even fewer where multiples are concerned.

        1. Clif

          Amber has many problems. Actual multiple personalities are *probably* not among them.

        2. thejeff

          I’m not really sure how much clearer Willis could make the intent without actually giving her a diagnosis.

  25. newllend(henryvolt)

    I guess she’s worried because she heard about Amber.

  26. Dr. T

    How is it that it took this many strips for me to realize that Joyce is comfortably by herself outside?

    1. Clif

      Her fear was an exaggerated response to RYan being out there. Him not being out there is bound to take some of the pressure off.

  27. bryy

    TIME TO PREP FOR REMEMBERING IT’S NOT REAL.

  28. pjeseb

    At long last, the boner that Willis gets from holding his audience/adherents/addicts in suspense has wilted.

    …unless it hasn’t. It which case, he maaaay wish to see a doctor about that.

  29. Jess

    🙁

  30. abacuswizard

    Am I correct in thinking that Joyce has gained a *lot* of self-confidence over the time skip?

    1. Emperor Norton II

      Oh, she’s been steadily gaining it ever since having a good talk with her father. And yes, this is a good thing.

    2. miados

      or taking off the hand brace helped her find it. the hand thing could have been a constant reminder which is why she is looking at it in the last panel or something like that.

      1. thejeff

        Nah, she’s been doing that with her hand since the glassing incident. Whenever she’s stressed or thinking about it.

    3. BigDogLittleCat

      Looks like it. It probably helps to know that her attacker is in jail, the hospital, or the morgue.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        Or the landfill.

      2. Jhon

        Blocking up a trash chute.

        1. Emperor Norton II

          We’ll just call Billie to take care of that, then. Head cheerleader, problem solver.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/rubbish/

        2. Schpoonman

          Ryan makes one final appearance years down the line, Billie stomps on his head, and he disappears into a hole in the ground a la Space Jam.

  31. TamiDOA

    These must be the Schrödinger’s Steps because at this time both Amber and Ryan are simultaneously in jail, in the hospital, and on the run.

    But how long can Willis keep the box closed before something starts to stink? 🙂

    1. Orion Fury

      But smelling a smell would thus be an observation, and would result in the knowledge and undoing of the quantumness of said box. Though I’ve heard that the thought experiment was supposed to highlight the paradox and show how qm isn’t a thing, or something like that. It was late and it’s late.

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        It’s bull anyway, since the cat-killing robot is obviously the first observer in the scenario.

        No, really, look it up.

        1. thejeff

          The cat knows!

      2. vlademir1

        The point was to point out how broken the Copenhagen interpretation is on a macroscopic level regarding superposition, not QM in general.

        1. Clif

          Yes. This. Very much this!!!

        2. Orion Fury

          Thank you.

  32. Keulan

    I thought Willis said nobody dies in DoA. Now I’m beginning to wonder if that’s true, and how badly Amber hurt Ryan in the previous story arc.

  33. JessWitt

    Oh crap. Public knowledge.

    Also the janitors at IU seem really lax.

  34. miados

    Hmmm i thought they made sure to clean up police tape. Maybe a little got blown by the wind.

    1. Jhon

      Could be left over from Toedad’s visit.

      1. miados

        with how long ago that happened I highly doubt that is where it is from. Technically possible but not for sure it is likely.

        1. Jinxed44

          Twoish weeks?
          I’ve seen police tape bits last way longer than that.
          But most likely it is from Ryans mutilation, yes.

  35. Lala

    My heart literally dropped. I got freakin’ chills, man. Holy shit. Please don’t make me wait forever…..

    I mean, US. Don’t make US wait forever. Obviously.

    1. Lala

      Also: has Joyce been without her brace for long? Have I just not noticed?

      1. miados

        with her stretching her hand in this i assume it to be very new.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          I bet that hand stiiiinks, though. I had a brace on for a couple of weeks, once, and my hand was foul for three days afterward, Dawn and Purell be damned.

        2. Lala

          She’s able to remove it to shower, and given how badly she hates to let anything get near that shower, she probably does remove it to bathe, which would probably help with that :p

      2. Ivanka the Terrible

        It was a sprain or hairline or something, iirc.

        Time skip to the end of the week was probably sufficient for the doctor to okay unstrapping, there’s a level of injury where it’s more of a precaution against doing something more and making the damage worse, those usually last 2-7 days.

  36. mrj

    The main detail that jumps out to me right now is Danny’s face in the first two panels. 1st) Looking forward towards Joe, with a neutral expression. 2nd) Head turned slightly, but not making eye contact with Joyce and with evident tension around his eyes.

  37. two-star

    I’m inclined to think that Amber is not on the run or in jail at this point. Reason: when Becky woke up, she acted like this was her first morning waking up at Leslie’s place. If Amber was gone, she could have stayed with Dina, and would almost certainly have chosen to above any other options. So most likely, Amber *was* in jail, (and Becky was staying with Dina) over the timeskipped days. And now Amber is back. (On bail, or released after Ryan or his family have declined to press charges.)

    1. zoelogical

      well, i mean. not if the police came in to go through Amber’s stuff. possibly especially not if the police came in to go through Amber’s stuff, there’d be a lot of scrutiny and pressure directed at their floor.

      haha oh god maybe that’s what got ruth stressed out to the point of saying “please”

    2. Emperor Norton II

      Becky -could- have stayed with Dina, sure.

      But that’s not to say she -would-.

      Because here is the thing: Becky is in her first real relationship, and she is absolutely, 100% terrified of doing things wrong. She’s made a few mistakes, and each and every time she’s ended up feeling really bad about it, but thankfully talking it out with Dina has always resolved things.

      And as such, she also does not want to move things too fast. She does not want to impose on Dina in general. And she -definitely- does not want to feel like she’s “mooching” off Dina and taking advantage of her generosity and “crushdrunk”* emotions. She wants to be able to (literally) sleep together with Dina when the time is right that they stay together, and not because she has no other options.

      *You know, when you have such a strong crush on someone that you are floating on skies.

      1. thejeff

        This is one of the things that annoys me about this timeskip. In addition to the obvious waiting to find out what happened with Amber/Dorothy/Ryan.

        We’re left guessing a bunch of character development stuff, like what happened with the plan to sleep at Dina’s?

    3. SarahSaur

      I mean, Becky cited the fact that Ruth was getting stressed covering for Becky – And I think that would matter to Becky, both because she is just generally very concerned about being a burden and also the fact that she desperately does not want to make the life of a suicidal person any more stressful for them.
      .
      .
      So while Amber’s presence or lack there of could have effected her ability to be there, I think that her desire to not upset Ruth is probably also pretty real.

  38. BigDogLittleCat

    I have this idea that Ryan stabbed Amber and we saw her pulling the knife out of *herself.* In which case, she’s in hospital and Ryan’s in jail.

    Joyce’s question makes me think that she’s asking about Ethan because he was directly affected by ‘it’ so now I have the idea that Ethan stumbled onto the scene during the fight, which would traumatize him, and of course push Amber into thermonuclear mode, so maybe Ryan’s in hospital too.

    1. BBCC

      It could also just mean he was visiting an injured Amber in the hospital.

    2. Benwhoski

      I think Willis referred to the blood as being Ryan’s in the hovertext, though.

      Unclear: Is hovertext canon?

      1. Schpoonman

        Hovertext is canon. Ryan is tagged in the strip, and tags are canon, therefore, Ryan being tagged via his blood is canon.

        Let’s just face the music, everyone: Amber cut Ryan the fuck up.

        1. TheGrammarLegionary

          I just went back and checked… There was blood on Amber’s hand in panel 2 last time we saw her. THEN she pulled the knife out and there was a little spatter of blood. The blood on Amber’s hand was almost definitely Ryan’s, which makes the blood coming off the knife a lot more ambiguous, in my opinion. My guess is everyone got a little bit stabbed.

  39. BBCC

    I don’t think Ryan is dead. If he were, that’d cause a few problems:

    A) Amber would be out of the main action, because she’d be in jail or, if not, likely expelled.

    B) It would kinda ruin her ‘you’re not destined to be a dangerous killer because you’re mentally ill and your dad is abusive, but you do need to get help for this, because violent reactions aren’t good’ schtick.

    C) There didn’t seem like there was enough blood for that to be a throat slice or artery.

    1. Fart Captor

      He COULD still be dead though, if he got hit by a truck on the way to jail.

      As a bonus, the truck from the walkyverse gets redemption by running over someone who had it coming this time

      1. BBCC

        That’s a nice thought!

      2. Reltzik

        Regardless of whether he got hit by a truck or taken in by the police, either way he’s getting grilled.

    2. zoelogical

      also like ryan’s shown up in a preview panel but maybe that is cheating

      1. BBCC

        Wait, he did? Where?

        1. zoelogical

          i think it was that one supervillain circle thing. let me look it up

          https://dumbingofage.tumblr.com/post/160977723257/orb

          okay i don’t know what this is but i don’t think ryan would be showing up in this if he was dead

        2. BBCC

          I thought that was just a reference to Trump and the orb in Saudi Arabia.

        3. zoelogical

          listen. not all of us follow donald trump’s movements with avid bile and acid reflux

        4. zoelogical

          by which i mean that the last thing i reliably heard about trump in particular and not the general political situation was covfefe

          ignoring his day to day activities is my form of protest and mental health-keeping

        5. BBCC

          That’s totally fine, I was just saying what I thought it was. Definitely not judging you for ignoring the evil cheeto – there’ve been days where I’ve had to do the same thing.

        6. Dellaran

          That’s not a preview. It’s a parody of a photo of Trump in Saudi Arabia from a couple weeks ago.

        7. zoelogical

          …i did not catch that reference

        8. Clif

          Wait. Who is the unknown evil on the far right? Just past Ryan.

        9. thejeff

          Adult version of Leland, I think – Marcie and Sal’s childhood bully.

    3. Joe Covenant

      re: c) We did only see a brief moment of something that no doubt lasted a little longer…

  40. zoelogical

    joyce, your punching arm senses are tingling. somewhere, is there an abusive dad who needs to be Punched?

    1. zoelogical

      this is joyce’s superhero origin story. when will she be avenged

    2. thejeff

      The punching arm also works on rapists. Maybe it’s residual low level vibes from talking to Joe – “this one doesn’t need glassing yet, but if he keeps going …”

      1. zoelogical

        this is an amazing superpower and i would donate one (1) whole dollar to this initiative

  41. Bagge

    I know that feeling, Danny. We haven’t heard anything either.

  42. Tenzhi

    This comic just crossed a line!

    1. Yumi

      *hiss*

    2. Orion Fury

      This one?

    3. Emperor Daniel

      Who are you to police us with that kinda talk? I won’t cop to that, no indeed!

      1. Yumi

        Why are you like this

        1. Yumi

          (This is meant in a joking manner)

  43. transgressingwaffle

    Come on Willis this is cold.

  44. @zombieundergrnd

    Alright. Who is the jerkass litterbug what left this reunion tour banner laying around. The show was three days ago and there is a perfectly good trash can RIGHT THERE at the bottom of the stairs.
    Wings (minus McCartney) and Beck are playing the house tomorrow night.

  45. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Huh, weird that the streamers from the policeman’s ball would float all the way over here. What an odd coincidence. 😉

    Panel 1: This panel makes me a little sad. Like, Danny was doing his own ukulele thing but now he’s running after Joe, having to try and stem the worst of his fuck up and apologize for him.

    It’s such a devolution of his growth back to when he was trying to apologize to Sarah for Joe’s insistence that he hit on her and it makes me want to wish Danny can continue to break away and grow without Joe.

    Like, not ending the relationship forever, but definitely taking a break so Danny can feel more comfortable just leaving Joe alone when he pulls a stunt like this and let him deal with the consequences of his own actions.

    Panel 2: All right, no sign of Ethan, so I’m going to guess he’s somewhere giving support to Amber/AG, and clearly something happened, I’m gonna guess she’s in temporary custody as they investigate what happened especially since Ryan’s been hinted to be well-connected politically.

    And Danny’s answer, could be brusque, but I dunno, looking at his eyebrows, it seems more worried like “yeah, I’ve been freaking out too, but there’s no news”.

    And it’s an important moment because it really highlights how much Joe tries to suck events into himself. Both Joyce and Danny are dealing with things way bigger than Joe having to wrestle with consequences of his own actions. Like, both of them are in the dark in what sounds like a stressful and scary situation involving a man who literally meant Joyce harm.

    In a world where Joe was not married to this twisted toxic masculinity and could be the friend he’s shown snippets of being able to be, he’d be the one playing support, not Danny or Joyce. He’d be the one offering a friendly voice to talk to with Joyce or the one going “hey, whatever on the ukulele, what’s going on with you with everything”.

    And it’s sad that he’s poisoning that in his fear of being infested with emotions. He’s not in a good place and he needs to get better before he loses the people throwing him second chances and overlooking his douchery.

    Panels 3-5: Huh, Joyce grabs that wrist the second Danny runs off and she immediately stares down wild-eyed at the police tape she’s stepped on. Like, that’s the tell that she’s dealing with a flashback and it makes me wonder how long of this interaction she’s been low-key dealing with PTSD symptoms in the background (certainly it would explain why her interactions with Joe are so uncharacteristically muted or why she was perched up on the ledge texting someone.

    Which just makes Joe’s douchery all the sadder that he just heaped his shit right on top of any already shitty situation. And that police tape… means that there was something official. Since Ryan is unlikely to be dead, I’m going to guess that Amber/AG might be in custody with Ethan stressing out about it as Stabby McRapist tries to use his familial connections to try and make it Amber’s fault that she fought back and defended herself.

    I want to know how Ethan, Amber/AG, and Dorothy are doing. Heck, how Dina is doing as her friend and roommate. But if I know Willis, we’re going to keep cycling between Becky and Leslie, Danny and Joe, and Ruth and Billie as long as he can stretch it out as he is a vampire who feeds on our anxiety (in his defense, anxiety is fucking delicious).

    1. zoelogical

      joyce’s flashbacks in open spaces has been triggered by not having any of her friends around her, right?

      so like…if she’d been doing fine before, then having danny leave is going to be so much less fine now

      but like i feel like she is moving towards a “confronting her fears and the awfulness of the world” mode

      1. BenRG

        I think that, in this case, the flashback is triggered more by the general stress of the moment – Specifically thinking about what happened here and how it is affecting her friends.

        1. zoelogical

          probably that too

          but like it was a legitimate thing where when she was walking around alone she saw ryan everywhere she went

      2. 3oranges

        I think how Joyce handles being alone is a real change here. Previously, we saw her have panic attacks. But as Cerberus said, here she was setting on the steps by herself, on her phone.

        I wonder how much she knows about Ryan being taken down and how much that has to do with things. You know, when Joe found her, she immediately started looking at his rankings. But now we see she was knowingly in the place of whatever happened, looking to find out more about it. So I imagine that’s probably what she was concerned with when she was interrupted too.

        Anyway, that’s definitely what she is thinking on now, and you can see more difference. She’s not seeing Ryans around her. She’s holding her wrist, which is an injury but also a sign of her personal power, since she used it to stop a dangerous man. With some help from good friends like Amazi-girl.

        Like Rotunda said, stopping a dangerous man is what happened here too, but not the same super-good way. So I think she’s not having flashbacks like before, she’s remembering, from a position where she no longer helpless in herself but needs to worry about others.

    2. Bagge

      That Joe’s immediate respons to his own bullshit is NOT to take a step back, is NOT to do damage control, but to dig in his heels and kick up as much drama as possible while whining about it all being about meeeeeee… is not an endearing trait.

      1. chris73

        Thats not what happened at all, he ran to get away from the situation he didn’t want the situation to be about, he didn’t want the situation full stop

        1. Bagge

          I was thinking about what happened between he found out about people knowing about the list and he finally running away.

    3. ValdVin

      My “worry scale” for Dorothy’s mental health has gone off the charts.

      Don’t get me wrong: Of course I was concerned for her physical safety since Ryan was spotted tailing her. And also for Amber/AG’s physical safety, and emotional well-being; they were likely always going to be part of this arc.

      But Dorothy was the witness to the whole thing. Geez, I can’t imagine what that does to someone out of the blue like that.

    4. thejeff

      I’m worried about Amber. If she’s in custody, the police have to know about Amazi-Girl. They’ll have searched her room and found her stuff. If she wasn’t just wearing the costume under her street clothes, like she usually does. (Though she was wearing kind of a low cut shirt, so maybe not? They’ll still find it in her room.)
      That doesn’t lead anywhere good.

      I wonder if she ran. If Joyce is asking if he (or Ethan) has heard from her at all.

      1. John

        Amber doesn’t usually wear the costume under her clothes. It’s too bulky. She usually puts it on over her street clothes. Often she carries it in her backpack, but she doesn’t appear to have had that with her that night.

  46. Goki

    Oh hell… Ryan is dead isn’t he? (I mean there might be yellow tape for non murders… I guess)

    1. Cmd1095

      pretty sure the tape is used for any crime scene

    2. miados

      you’d be surprised what you can live through.

      1. BenRG

        Although, as a general rule, the more unlikely the survival, the more unpleasant the life that awaits the survivor. Sad but true.

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          Not sad in this case!

      2. Danni

        can confirm after surviving 2 food poisonings

      3. Ferdinand Rosenthal

        My theory is that Amber blinded Ryan so that he wouldn’t be able to stalk ever again, at least under really good cyborg eyes come onto the market which is around thirty years from now anyway. And she can claim – justly – self defense, and that she handed a rapist over to the cops, so in nearly every sense of the word she should be fine, Ryan will be defeated without dying, and Joyce gets some justice…I think. I can’t really speak about that last part, who knows what Joyce wants save herself?

        1. miados

          I would be willing to bet that willis has a good idea what joyce wants.

  47. BenRG

    Wait, what? What has Ethan got to do with this? I’m suddenly getting a very bad feeling about how that particular crisis may have worked out!

    1. MatthewTheLucky

      Amber has a better relationship with Ethan. Whatever happened, Ethan would be the first main character she’d want to talk to.

    2. Emperor Norton II

      Well, the theories are several. I personally wonder if Ethan is hiding Amber somewhere. Others thinks she might be in temporary custody and Ethan is supporting her.

      The reason I think what I think is because I also think Danny might not be telling the truth to Joyce, because it looks like he doesn’t want her to somehow become an accomplice… BUT, it’s not a hypothesis I’ll defend to the earth, and the other interpretations are at least as reasonable.

    3. miados

      i figure if ethans best friend slash oldest friend was arrested that would have an impact on him and joyce does care for him.

  48. darkoneko

    OR HAVE YOU, LOIS DANE

  49. Reltzik

    Okay, thought just occurred to me.

    If Ryan’s alive and talking, he might have told the police that Amber is Amazi-Girl.

    (Yes, she said she wasn’t, but protestations of innocence simply confirm guilt.)

    1. ValdVin

      Let’s figure Amber is in some type.of care,.as an inpatient.

      Concurrently, unless her butler at the Amazi-Cave puts.on the outfit*, there are no sightings of Amazi-Girl.

      People will notice.

      *Alfred did this for Batman once. It’s part of every superhero’s aide’s official duties.

      1. ValdVin

        I shoulda said also: Your idea exudes likelihood, but in case Ryan was so thrashed he has memory loss, or some other reason, there could be other ways for.the ID to get out.

        I can live with “Ryan’s cranial injuries obliterate short term memory,” by the way.

    2. Flakky

      That, or a search of her dorm room might betray her secret identity.

      Should have invested in a batcave. And a DinaButler.

  50. brasca1

    Finally! Well it couldn’t be that traumatizing. Danny wants to make a life change, but I think he’d be inconsolable if something terrible happened to Dorothy and/or Amber. And so would Joyce.

    All we know it that the police were involved which rules out Dorothy and Amber burying Ryan’s corpse in the woods.

    1. Reltzik

      …. wait, so if someone buries a corpse in the woods, the police don’t get involved?

      I mean those woods are far from abandonned and a freshly-turned grave would get noticed.

      If they were SMART, they’d have tied him to a cinderblock and dumped him in Griffy Lake. Less likely for someone to discover the body AND less work overall.

      1. Emperor Norton II

        And don’t forget to wrap chickenwire around him, so that pieces don’t start floating up, while at the same time letting the fishies get their snack.

        1. Edward Starsmith

          One of my more stomach turning moments in life was dealing
          with a body that had been in a river for 30 days. I’d go with
          the quicklime suggestion from Smiling Cat.

      2. Smiling Cat

        My dad always swore by quicklime, and he used to be a crime scene investigator, so a guy’s gotta think he knows his stuff.

        1. Reltzik

          Quicklime’s a bit hard for a couple of teenagers to get on short notice in the middle of the night.

        2. thejeff

          Amazi-Girl is always prepared!

  51. Danni

    *to the tune of tradition* resolution!

  52. KSClaw

    Well GEE that’s not ominous AT ALL.

  53. Rotunda

    I think Joyce’s expression shows sadness and reflection, not panic or flashback. She is grasping the wrist she injured punching Ross in anger on behalf of Becky, and she is reminded by the police tape that Ryan was injured here by Amber on behalf of Joyce. Joyce has a strong moral sense, and probably reasons that either both actions were justified or both were crimes. But whatever happened on Wednesday is regarded as a possible crime by the police.

    We assume by default that Dorothy told Joyce what happened. She might have some reason we haven’t guessed yet to withhold all or part of the story.

    Our host doesn’t want us to know yet what happened Wednesday night (it’s for our own good, right?), but he does want us to see Joyce’s mood and concern for Amber.

    1. Flakky

      Now that you mention it, it is actually kind of weird that Joyce asks about it, as we can assume she would have heard from Dorothy, exactly as you say.

      So somehow I don’t think she’s heard anything from Dorothy, though neither would I think she’s hurt in any way for Joyce to worry.

      It’s strange.

      1. thejeff

        I read that as more of a “what’s currently happening with Amber” than a “why is there police tape” kind of question.

        1. Flakky

          Could be. Though I would be even more surprised if Joyce didn’t know why the police tape was there. By now I’d guess the entire campus knows about it.

        2. Bicycle Bill

          Why do I have this version of the scene from Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets running through my mind now?
          ————————
          The Dean is talking to Amber…..
          “You realize, of course, that in the past few weeeks you have broken perhaps a dozen school rules?”
          “Yes, sir.”
          “And that there is sufficient evidence to have you expelled.”
          “Yes, sir.”
          “Therefore, it is only fitting that you receive … a ‘Special Award for Services to the School’.”

      2. zoelogical

        maybe dorothy went home for a few days

        honestly that’s the kind of thing that would be really good for her i think

  54. Flakky

    I wonder how whatever happened at the cliffhanger affected Robin. I’d be really surprised if she was suddenly back on the campaign trail (with any success). It somehow seems more likely that whatever trend she started got worse.

    Though with Not-Ryan in the picture, anything goes.

    Imagine her picking up a hat and a ukulele, serenading outside Leslie’s house.

    1. thejeff

      She’s sitting on the curb outside the campaign office, waiting for Leslie to show up.

  55. John Madden

    Dun dun DUN!

  56. What Was The Question Again?

    FIST OF JOYCE-STICE!

  57. Tenchan

    Those last two panels are just beautiful: dramatic and cinematic!

    1. ValdVin

      Oof, what a gut punch.

      It’s daytime. I’m not really paying attention to the lighting.

      Then all of a sudden Joyce’s face is in the shade. And she and readers see the police tape.

      (Plus she’s back to holding her wrist even though the brace is off.)

  58. Vulcanodon

    I am practicing patience in waiting for… that story to unfold. In the meantime, Danny, don’t go after Joe. For your sake and his, let him figure out the next step.

  59. Clif

    I wonder what would have happened if Danny had volunteered the info that Joe had her at a 10 and left it at that.
    Back to what passes for reality.
    Most likely scenario is that, given Amber acting without restraint, Ryan is gone. With Amber’s skills she is likely physically unhurt, though this is not certain. With Dorothy’s testomony and the knife used belonging to Ryan, it’s likely the police are satisfied with self defense. Unless Dorothy spilled, the police have no reason to connect Amber and Amazigirl. The weak point in the story is the blocked door which goes to show premeditation, and with family connections the police may not be satisfied with the easy answer. Amber is a hermit anyway and this is likely exaggerated by the circumstances. My best guess is that Joyce knows Amber killed Ryan and withdrew, and so her question about Amber’s best friend. Asked of course of the person with feelings for Amber. And Ethan. Maybe the uke will help when he walks in on Ethan banging Mike.

    Insert obligatory Damn you Willis here.

    1. BBCC

      Then Danny would be a liar, because he had her as a four.

  60. Vulcanodon

    OK maybe I’m not that patient. ‘Ryan’ says Amber is Amazi-Girl, the cops search Amber’s room, find no trace of superhero anything. Barely-noticeable smile on Dina’s face.

  61. Commodore Jeep-Eep

    About fucking time we got back to this.

  62. Micki

    Ooooh, and she doesn’t have her cast on, yet she’s holding her arm…

  63. Remmington Steele

    Suddenly, from nowhere, a cold breeze sprang up. The first frosts had been afoot last week, and the sky was beginning to take on the pale streaks of winter.

    The sky was big enough for many a grave, and laughter lay like ashes on her tongue.

    A hard anxiety ripped through the tendons of her wrist and the cold huddled deep in her bones.

  64. BP

    … Shit is he dead

    1. BenRG

      He might be. At the very least he’s messed up enough that the police got involved. Given that he’s the son of a fairly important local figure, I can’t see it being swept under any carpets either.

  65. Eyebrow

    Amber castrated him and then called an ambulance and police.

  66. Emily

    This would probably be more impactful if I cared at all about that cliffhanger.

  67. showler

    Well, I was close.

    ” June 6, 2017 at 12:55 pm | # | Reply

    My guess is that we will stick with Danny and Joe until they walk out the front door and through the police tape.”

  68. Indy

    Ahh, there’s the ineffectual Danny we all know and tolerate

  69. Victor

    So here’s an interesting thought:

    Amber is responsible for the hacking of Joe’s list. She’s got the skills to do it, and the fact that the list has been hacked and released is our evidence that Amber is fine.

  70. Jhon

    Ryan has been removed from the comic.
    Alive? Dead? Who cares…
    We won’t see him again.

  71. Ivanka the Terrible

    Oh, shit.

    Danny actually probably knows what happened to her last night (Ethan was likely her emergency contact).

    That puts the whole silly hat and dumb persona switch thing is a way, way darker context. He’s got a friend in jail (hopefully temporarily, rooting for self-defense for Amber here but even an accepted argument of legal self-defense usually involves a day or so in lockup while the cops ask around), and one having a minor breakdown about his list being published.

    That’s a “my life is spinning out of control” impending-doom ukelele, isn’t it?

    (Though isn’t that all ukeleles, really, when you think about it?)

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