134

Idea
Posted on September 10, 2011 by David M Willis
Dumbing of Age is one year old today!  Hooray, or something!

134 thoughts on “Idea”

  1. Jen Aside

    SHE KNOWS

    LISTEN TO THE WIZENED SOPHOMORE

    1. Rikushadow5

      SECONDED WITH MUCH GUSTO.

      1. Kide

        BUT YOU DON’T GET WIZENED TILL JUNIOR

        1. dchorror

          Special cases get it early.

        2. wandering meme

          Hey, it can’t possibly be the worst Sarah…. you just haven’t heard some of my other ideas…

          check this out: Joyce goes by herself! wearing that dress she wore for Joe (the yellow number with the “chest window”) that makes her look like a hippie!

          AND we tell her EATING the apples in the puchbowl will make all the guys like her!

        3. TheBenenator

          Naw, we just offer her the cups of Jello.

        4. Xalticus

          change “make all guys like her” to “make all the guys think she is marriage material with strong Christian values” and she’d be all over them Apples like white on rice.

  2. Xartarin

    Sarah has the right idea. Roz probably wouldn’t be too happy with Joyce as Dorothy’s “friend” anyway.

    1. David Herbert

      Roz would probably take it as an opportunity to get Joyce to set aside her conservative views. Probably by throwing her head-first into a hot tub of naked dudes. She’s never been one to worry about personal boundaries.

    2. Xalticus

      Dorothy could always bring a friend they both know, like Joe!

  3. buttsbutts mcgee

    Wow, Sarah. They didn’t kill your cat or anything. No need to look so angry.

    1. Ridureyu

      Actually, Joyce did. Remember? She declared that all cats were secret satanist commie witches in disguise, and burned it at a stake.

      1. David Herbert

        … When exactly?

        1. Kernanator

          It totally happened off-screen. Take our word for it.

        2. Doctor_Who

          No, no. We’re supposed to claim it happened in that other universe. There’s 14 years of continuity that not everyone has read, so we can say anything we wanted happened and get away with it.

          Remember when Joyce and Sarah became lesbian vampire slayers and destroyed Hitler’s battle-zeppelin? I loved that story.

        3. lord of dance

          that was sarah? i always thought it was daisy… does that make me racist?

        4. Kaci

          only if she’s ever drawn in a car

        5. Kaci

          also, for more reasons than I can mention and be on topic or sound sane, I love your commenting name

        6. Undrave

          You’re a genius!

        7. dchorror

          But see, now you’ve broken it. Now, everytime they see us making crazy claims, they’re going to question it.

          They’re never going to believe that there was a zombie apocalypse or a gender bender story or about the time that Ronald Reagon and Theodore Roosevelt fought over the fate of the universe, much less that Joe went to an alternate future timeline to fight martian robot samurai or the time Walky and Sal explored Atlantis.

        8. Kirby

          Don’t forget the time that Sal got a job at a pizza joint with a martian theme that was an evil plot!

          Or when Robin had perverse sexual lust for Joyce!

          Or the time that Willis made himself into a god and an Alien took over his body and then Walky saved the universe!

        9. dchorror

          And here we are forgetting to mention the time that Joe refused to Joe Joyce.

        10. Tempo

          It’s happened! I’m actually starting to lose track of what is and isn’t trolling. I can’t read through It’s Walky again to find out. I JUST CAN”T! so much archive binging… so much… (Sucks thumb)

        11. Doctor_Who

          Please. We still get people in denial about Ethan being gay, and Joe being asked permission about the sex video. You overestimate the memories of some of our commenters.

        12. kagato23

          Stop with the out there stuff! You need to be plausible here! It’s not like the author ever addressed those things!

          We all know Ethan gets off on heterosexual exploitation, and thus his favorite video is that time that Joe was tricked into having an internet sex video without his consent.

        13. Kaci

          aaaah my braaaaaain

  4. Mary

    Hurray!!!!

  5. Ridureyu

    Go Sarah!

  6. Digidestined of Trust (Tim)

    Glad to see Dorothy said the same thing to Joyce that I did yesterday. It’s good Joyce understands though.

  7. Joebo

    Get stuffed Sarah, or rather, get un-stuffed.
    Don’t get me wrong, she’s absolutely right, but she’s dealing with teenagers, if you tell them no so vehemently they will do it anyway just to prove to you that they know better.

    1. Steven

      I don’t think Dorothy is the kind to rebel. And Joyce WOULD rebel, but it would make her parents upset. Sarah just doesn’t want her stable roommate broken already. She wants to live up the normalcy as long as she can.

      1. fellixe

        That’s what I’m thinking. Last thing Sarah wants is her roomie being converted into party gal and making it hard to live with her.

      2. buttsbutts mcgee

        So she’s a control freak.

        1. Randonimity

          Rather than, say, someone who might be genuinely concerned about Joyce’s mental well being?

        2. Raison-provacateur

          I think she is concerned. She only ever knows how to express her ability to care for others through sarcasm and by being a hard case. Tough-love and all that.

          Also, she doesn’t want to admit it, but Joyce is breaking through her think candy shell, and getting her to care about other people again. she does kinda feel responsible for and protective of this innocent little thing…

          So essentially: Big Sis says “NO, you can’t go.”

        3. buttsbutts mcgee

          That doesn’t invalidate the possibility that she’s a bit of a control freak. Even fictional people are complicated.

        4. taekwondogirl

          Control freak when it comes to things that could potentially completely screw her over, yeah.

  8. David Herbert

    Ooh, she’s going to be going on a murder spree if they keep this up.

  9. Ravux

    It’s a girl!!! Or some other appropriate exclamation of joy.

    Anyway, yeah, that sounds like a terrible idea. Have Joyce get slowly desensitized to stuff and it might be a better idea.

  10. Name

    No, bring the powder keg with a lit fuse to the kegger. That’d be fun for us to watch.

  11. Steven

    Awww, Joyce, you’re such a good person, no matter what anyone says. Willing to go so far out of your comfort zone in order to support someone else who’s personal beliefs were also out of your comfort zone is the mark of a true friend.
    I think Dorothy and Joyce need to team up and make their own super-hero duo. Like, Biblegirl and Secularwoman.

  12. Nathan

    I’m not sure where would be an appropriate place to comment on this, but I figured you may like to know about this. Whenever I go to the Shortpacked website, my CPU shoots up to 100% usage (and stays there) followed eventually by something saying a script is having problems. This started up earlier this week. Dumbing of Age also shoots up to 100% for about 15-30 seconds, but it then comes back down.

    I just figured you would like to know, in case you were not already aware of the issue.

    1. David

      What browser are you using?

      1. Slipgate

        David,

        I was encountering this issue with the Shortpacked! site at work earlier today. In that case the browser was IE7.

        I didn’t monitor processor load but it was making the computer unresponsive for a bit, then telling me the scripts were taking too long and I should cancel them. Even when I agreed to cancel them it would freeze and then ask again. I thought one browser window was just being weird on me but a second browser window did the same thing. Eventually I viewed the comic on my phone.

        1. Mud

          Also a pretty common problem for me. IE8 on windows 7. Mobile browsing seems to strip away whatever is doing it, and firefox seems to be immune (Picture bad scripts bouncing off it’s chest as it gives a speech about crime)

        2. Rikushadow5

          As much as I hate to be the cliched asshole nerd here, your problem is likely IE. There’s a reason it’s the butt of jokes in a lot of nerd circles; it’s fickle a lot of times on how well it wants to work.

          I can’t really propose a resolution for this problem (other than “get another browser”) because I’m not terribly familiar with the problem. Plus, I don’t have control over the servers, site, or anything else like that like Willis may/may not have.

        3. Slipgate

          Some people don’t have the ability to choose their browser. For example, at work we’re not allowed to install any software. So it’s either what’s already there (IE7) or nothing.

          David, not sure if you’re getting this message, but the Monday 9/12/2011 Shortpacked (where Amber’s having, uh, stomach issues) is causing this problem for me as of typing this post.

          I suspect, since it’s so intermittent even on that page which I managed to see one time normally, that it’s one of the ads in your ad rotation that has some code that’s freaking out certain browsers. Not sure which one, though, since I can’t really get at the page when it’s happening.

      2. taekwondogirl

        Happens to me at work, too. They use IE7. It’s fine at home with Firefox.

  13. Andy

    Sarah, back off. Right now. If Joyce wants to go to a goddamn party, it’s no business of yours. Especially since you know that she’s a billion times more likely to leave as soon as she sees someone drinking and/or a couple making out than she is to get wasted and become a druggie. But I guess you can’t see past your paranoia, can you?

    Not for the first time, I wonder what drugs Sarah’s old roommate did, and how often.

  14. Kirby

    Everyone who’s yelling at Sarah saying there’s a stick up her butt, let me remind them of something?

    A. Sarah’s old roommate used to do drugs and party and all that stuff, and she turned her in. She doesn’t want to see Joyce turn into that.

    B. She doesn’t want Joyce’s brain to break.

    C. She wants to play Apples to Apples.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      How did you conclude that last one?

      1. Kernanator

        Because everyone wants to play Apples to Apples.

        EVERYONE.

        1. Rikushadow5

          Including you. And your mother. And even Joe’s Penis.

        2. 47

          For a nickel?

        3. Tempo

          I would pay a nickel to play Apples to Apples.

  15. Plasma Mongoose

    Sarah is in her usual mood I see.

    1. Kernanator

      You mean wanting to be Joe-d? Yes she is.

      1. lord of dance

        god, she could use a good joeing. should’ve gotten it earlier though. now theres a line

        1. Plasma Mongoose

          Joe’s penis can fix anything. Even your cat.

        2. ALostProphet

          What.

        3. ALostProphet

          Ooooh, a “pussy” pun. That makes a lot more sense.

        4. Plasma Mongoose

          Almost, the pun wasn’t about the double meaning of cat but the word fixing.

        5. eagalian

          your avatar is always awesome plasma.

        6. Plasma Mongoose

          DANKE! 🙂

    2. wandering meme

      No no no wait! she’s really is in a really good mood! I swear…

      Her lower eyelids aren’t nearly as high as they were before! And the her frown has gotten 20% closer to a smile! look, she’s bearing teeth!

      Huh? HUH?

  16. Romanticide

    Sarah! 😀

  17. Tunasammich

    Poop on all the Sarah haters, sez I

  18. Kernanator

    This is…actually quite nice of Joyce. She knows that Dorothy isn’t comfortable with being at the party, so she’s offering to go along even though she knows she won’t like it either, just so that Dorothy can have a familiar face there.

    1. Valdrax

      Joyce is basically a nice person. She’s been sheltered from a lot of things growing up, but some of that includes the things that harden people into selfish cynics.

      And even after all the disillusionment and tough times of Roomies & It’s Walky, the original Joyce remained selfless at heart. I doubt DoA Joyce has lost or will lose that aspect of her character; it’s a huge part of her charm.

      1. Kernanator

        I know that, I was just expecting a Joyce that means well but says stupid things, like most of what we’ve seen of DoA Joyce.

  19. myfiststhirstfornecks

    omg, its the 9th here in cali lol

  20. RachelEvil

    Sarah’s right. It’s a pretty bad idea.

    Dorothy could handle this sort of thing with backup, but Joyce is the wrong backup.

  21. Daeva

    And the Sprite and Apples to Apples magically disappear! This is Joyce’s superpower!

    1. lord of dance

      i think making it appear in the first place was the power. unless she brings apples to apples to every class in case shes invited to a slumber party… which seems incredibly possible

    2. Undrave

      Maybe those things weren’t actually there and was just miming bringing stuff and the way it looked was all in our imagination??

  22. lord of dance

    so… sarahs NOT encouraging them right? shes being so vague with her opinion

  23. ALostProphet

    That was really funny, actually. That was a good punchline.

  24. Kaci

    holiday whobie whatie?

  25. Nixie

    One year anniversary? Bravo! You’ve done very well to keep it up this long! Still holding my interest- in fact, the comic has gotten a lot more interesting since its beginning.

  26. ALostProphet

    Congratulations on 14 years of comics. You’re one of the most prolific webcomic writers, and you’ve maintained a high standard of storytelling over all that time. Congratulations, from the bottom of my heart.

    1. Kirby

      I love your avatar. XD

      Kirby’s Avatar: Mrow.

      1. ALostProphet

        Heh, thanks 🙂

  27. Alan / Falcon (@Alanfalcon)

    Willis, I love you.

  28. Menamebephil

    Is it wrong that I really, really, really think that Sarah needs to shut the fuck up? I mean, this is probably the first real sign we’ve got that Joyce isn’t quite as terminally naive, and is willing to go and do something she won’t enjoy for the sake of helping someone else, and then Sarah has to yell all over it.

    Also, this story arc is silly. I have never met any teenager ever that is scared of a party.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      Unless it is a Lemon Party, now those things are scary.

    2. ALostProphet

      +1 / ^THIS^

    3. Valdrax

      To be fair, whatever the party is, it isn’t Sprite and Apples to Apples.

      Roz seems to think it’s something that will specifically pull her out of her comfort zone. I don’t know about you, but billing that as the most important thing to know about a party doesn’t exactly sell me on it.

      1. ALostProphet

        I refer you to my comment immediately below, good sir/madam/person/alien

    4. wynne

      Eh, you’d be surprised. I’ve skipped on a couple in my lifetime, though that might be less “scared” and more “extremely uncomfortable/bored.” Watching people get drunk generally isn’t that much fun unless you participate yourself.

    5. bhtooefr

      Bringing Sprite and Apples to Apples to a party that Roz would go to, and not being naive? Does not compute.

      1. Menamebephil

        Please observe panel 2.

    6. coobee

      Uh… I was terrified of parties as a teenager, and only marginally scared of them now I’m in my twenties. Granted, that was mostly social anxiety issues, but part of it was feeling too ‘sheltered’ to fit in with the cool kids. And all the horror stories about drugs and alcohol.

  29. ALostProphet

    *sarcasm* You have to go to a PARTY? Oh poor, poor Dorothy, however will you deal with such a terrible, scary task?

    *clears throat* How could this happen to me/ I made my mistakes/ Got nowhere to run/ The night goes on/ as I am fading away…/

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      To be fair to Dotty, frat parties tend to be loud and boozy, (even if a lot of them are under 21) I for one also find parties like that offputting.

      1. Andy

        Heh. I was in a fraternity, and I still found parties like that to be a bit offputting. I usually warmed up to them after a couple drinks, but still preferred to hang out somewhere away from the people and the noise (though I did try to stay close to the alcohol).

    2. taekwondogirl

      Heh, heaven forbid you look at the situation from someone else’s perspective.

      1. ALostProphet

        From Dorothy’s perspective, she will most likely feel very awkward and/or uncomfortable for 3-6 hours. Maybe vomited on. Being scared of that is an overreaction, which I was mocking.

        ALostProphet, mocking angst since 2006!

        1. taekwondogirl

          These are kids who are brand new to college and don’t know what to expect at all from going to a college party, let alone a standard party.

          As someone who is not the best in large social situations and crowds actually give me anxiety, I don’t think being “scared” is an over-reaction. Being so scared that she doesn’t go would be, though.

  30. artemi

    Oh come on, guys. Sarah isn’t forbidding them to go, or to tell the dean on them and get them expelled (like her last roomie), or even saying that they are idiots.

    She’s saying this is a dumb idea.

    Which we all ALREADY agreed that it was. Why the hate?

    1. Scoops!

      I think a lot of them just need to hate on somebody, and Roz isn’t in this strip.

    2. Andy

      Because she isn’t saying “I dunno, guys, I don’t think this is a good idea.” She is looming over them and staring them down saying “This is the worst idea I’ve ever heard.” That’s about as close to forbidding as a roommate can get, short of threatening to lock Joyce out of the room (which wouldn’t be effective anyways).

      Also, she IS calling them idiots, unless you have a completely different notion of what “worst idea I’ve ever heard” means. I mean, to me it says “Dear God, why have you inflicted these morons on me, who come in and lower my IQ with their ideas and stupidity?”

      Finally, we don’t know that she won’t go to the dean. All we know about Sarah’s ex-roommate was that she was a stoner, did “illegal drugs,” regularly came in at 4AM (Sarah says “every night,” but I’m inclined to take that as a bit of hyperbole), and she was well-liked enough enough that Sarah became a bit of an outcast for turning her in. It sounds to me like the roomie just did some marijuana (if a bit more regularly than what was good for her study habits) and was inconsiderate about how she came back at night. If that’s what it takes before Sarah thinks she’s been burned, I wonder how quickly she’ll run to report a couple of underage students drinking so that they don’t become a problem.

  31. Charles RB

    Sarah is wise.

    Therefore, she should be the back-up, which would not be wise but would be fun to watch!

  32. Mystrana

    Congrats on a year! It blew my mind a little that this is still the first week. Do you enjoy this more than real time? I’d guess there’s advantages to both styles but I’m not an expert!

  33. SaK

    Happy Birthday, Dumbing of Age! Here’s looking forward to the next year 😀

    Personally, I think going to this party would be good for Joyce. College is a time for experimenting with values and boundaries and lord knows she hasn’t had the chance to do that yet.

    Yeah, Sarah needs to back off a little. I can appreciate where she’s coming from but Joyce needs to not get (s)mothered by her roomie.

  34. Trifecta

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY 2 U!

  35. Grimlockimus

    Happy birthday, I got you a cake, Mike helped, your mom is in that cake, we paid her a nickel to jump out topless, to bad she died.

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      You’re not supposed to bake the cake with her inside it. 😛

      1. Grimlockimus

        But how else would we make the three layer cake? Layer one is cake, the second layer is your mom, the third layer is the cream filling in your mom. The Filling is Jizz.

        1. Rikushadow5

          And the cake is a bed.

        2. Grimlockimus

          The Candle is my Penis

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          This cake is sounding less of a lie and more of a metaphor.

  36. Deuecebag

    So, it took Willis one year to almost get through one week in Dumbing of Age. Therefore, we can concluded that to get through the entire school year it will take 15 years, based a 15 week schedule. So by the time Joyce graduates, if she is on the four year plan, 60 years will pass. I think I might be dead by then.

  37. Sagara S.

    Soooo, I’m fairly sure all of you who are yelling about Sarah over-reacting ( which, I will admit she is considering it is Joyce and Dor’thy we’re discussing) have never had a bad roommate in college. As someone who got a stoner+, and two drunks, in a row, let me say that Sarah, since she hasn’t gotten to know Joyce (which is her fault, yes) is having a fairly normal reaction.

  38. George

    And we still have no idea what the party is, causing that to remain the weekend cliffhanger despite the Saturday strip. Well played, Willis, well played.

  39. Scot

    I actually agree with Sarah. Bringing Joyce to a party that Roz is into sounds like a terrible idea.

    1. Shifty

      I still think it would be hilarious if the party turns out to be shockingly downplayed and non-sexual.

  40. Shifty

    I think Sarah is blowing this out of proportion too soon. Yeah, taking Joyce of all people to ANY kind of party that isn’t done in a Church Basement, is probably going to end poorly, but it might not necessarily be as evil and sexually driven as everyone is assuming. It might actually be a simple college party where people have fun.

  41. Rikushadow5

    inb4 Lesbian Party.

  42. Fauxlosopher

    Sarah has a point, sort of. Yes, backup would be good. No, though, it should NOT be Joyce. We’ve all said it. It should be Billie, because she knows parties.

    1. dchorror

      But does she really have the self control to be good back up?

  43. Kelvin

    I have a feeling that Joyce will just completely turn the party around so EVERYONE is drinking sprite and playing apples to apples, just completely converting everyone there to her side. O_O

  44. Ally

    oh no! There might be……. BEER! haha 🙂 I like how in Roomies it was such a big deal.

  45. Random New Commenter

    Until a few days ago, I never knew there were other universes with these same characters.

    Meaning no offense to the obviously-talented artist, but I feel next to no interest in reading the other comics. More power to those that do, though!

    also hfs I’ve been reading this for a year

    1. Asuka L.S.

      I shake my fist in rage at you! >:(

      Now that that’s over with, wanna drink some Sprite and play Apples to Apples? ^__^

    2. taekwondogirl

      I don’t blame you. I started reading Shortpacked and knew there were other comics but couldn’t get interested in reading them enough to justify the amount of time needed to go through the archive.

      I finally did end up reading Roomies, It’s Walky! and Joyce & Walky this year though and it’s definitely worth it.

  46. Bill M.

    Sarah has obviously not heard of making Nightcrawler the pope, using twin clones of Hitler to take over the world, or using technology to make yourself the smartest person in the world by keeping others out of college.

  47. Alex

    I find it very hard to like Sarah

  48. Anne

    I was hoping to see Joyce and Dorothy go wild at the party. 🙁

  49. Graham S.

    I really dislike Sarah. That is all.

  50. Makkabee

    Sarah’s right — not that backup isn’t a bad idea, but Joyce is a horrible choice for it. Her reaction to the sorts of things she’ll see at a Roz style party is likely to be destructive, and Dorothy is trying to build some sort of relationship of trust to get an interview.

    1. Asuka L.S.

      Wisdom, that. Truly.

  51. Kirby

    XD I love all the people talking about how they dislike Sarah because she’s the one looking at this maturely. And, in Robin speak, “Looking at the world more than 15 minutes into the future!”

    That, and there’s not likely to be any partying if you can’t hear the sound of Joyce shouting “PREMARITAL HANKY PANKY” at everyone….

    1. Kirby

      *can’t hear anything over the sound

  52. SgtNumnum

    The worst idea I’ve ever heard is “Hey, let’s take over the world with a giant army and punish any rebels by cutting off their genitals and/or boobs”, which taught me that my brother needs some friends who don’t belong in a mental institution

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