196

JAWsome
Posted on March 25, 2021 by David M Willis

196 thoughts on “JAWsome”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    when’s farting

    1. Doctor_Who

      They’re all farting constantly. Walky hasn’t added the little cartoon clouds and tooting sounds yet.

      1. Clif

        It’s the only logical explanation.

      2. mrnoidea

        Sounds like a machine gun for farts.

        An AK-farty7

    2. Needfuldoer

      SBD.

      The comic just ended before it got to Mr. Monkey or Dinosaur.

    3. Pylgrim

      How did you think the monkey got that sort of air?

      1. Brighter Side

        It’s scientifically known that monkeys got mad ups, though only some of them need to use fart power to assist the jump.

  2. Proto_Eevee

    I have a feeling Walky isn’t getting into the newspaper.

    1. Yotomoe

      Always a Heathcliff…never a Garfield.

      1. ValdVin

        Finally, someone tells the truth about Heathcliff!

        Really, Heathcliff makes Garfield almost look like Krazy Kat by comparison.

        1. Lordhaw

          To be honest I actually liked Heathcliff better than Garfield

        2. Albi

          Heathcliff said “ACAB,” so I like him more by default.

    2. Diner Kinetic

      which is a shame, because after this strip I actually like his more

    3. Felix

      I’m going to make a wild guess and say that somehow they will end up working together.

      1. Proto_Eevee

        I doubt it, since Joyce is autobiographical here.

        1. Rose by Any Other Name

          I dunno – both Joyce and Walky’s comics have autobiographical aspects here.
          Considering the time and effort being put into this arc, I would not be surprised if the answer ended up being “both”.

        2. Clif

          Lucy will be so pleased.

        3. JA

          It’ll actually go to Booster, who decided to try out for the position last-minute on a lark.

  3. General Tekno

    Having read university newspaper comics, this would absolutely get published.

    1. Anna

      True. My university’s paper was notorious for being a closed group. Every year they’d look for new contributors and ask for ideas…then they’d keep publishing the worst comics/stories ever, and steal the ideas. I heard a girl who later became relatively successful with her comics had tried offering them to the student paper as well – never heard back from them.

    2. Ana Chronistic

      They’ll BOH be accepted bc it’s content

      1. Ana Chronistic

        BOTH

        THANKX PHONE

        1. Clif

          You could have pretended that BOH was an Internet abbreviation we had never heard of and we’d never know the difference.

        2. Ana Chronistic

          They’ll BUST OUT HAPPILY be accepted bc it’s content

  4. Sirksome

    Wait, is Walky actually the underdog in this contest?!?!

    1. King Daniel

      Not judging by the number of commenters who voted for him, he’s not.

      1. Sirksome

        That poll was started very premature. Like betting on a horse before you’ve even seen it. New developments are happening in day by day simulated real time. I wonder if some people are re-evaluating their vote. Ultimately though I think it’s probably Daisy’s opinion that matters more than artistic ability or writing. The first one to add a hot young superwoman character with a chest window wins!

        1. Bicycle Bill

          “Ultimately though I think it’s probably Daisy’s opinion that matters more than artistic ability or writing. The first one to add a hot young superwoman character with a chest window wins!”
          ↑ ↑
          This.

        2. RassilonTDavros

          Daisy is going to give it to Joyce because of Julia and Doris’ relationship.

        3. Sporky

          Oh my god, that’d be next level

        4. Clif

          I was expecting the arrows to point to chest window.

        5. Bicycle Bill

          If I knew how to properly format it, it would have.  

        6. Clif

          I think you’d have to use the code tag to get the blanks.

          ^^
          I have no idea how you got the arrows. I’d have to be on my computer and copy and paste them.

        7. Clif

          and the code tag did not work to preserve the blanks. I guess the best you can do is use periods for spacing.

        8. Clif

          And now I’m curious. Maybe if I had put the symbols inside the scope of the code instead of after.

          ^^
          vs
          ……………………………………………………………………………..^^………………………………………

        9. Jhon

          Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat with a
          chest window
          ↑ ↑

        10. Jhon

          No html involved. You just make sure that ‘chest window’ and the arrows both start on new lines.

        11. Clif

          How did you get the arrows? More importantly how did you get the double space between them?

        12. Jhon

          I cheated. ( copy and paste )
          No, it’s not a double space. But if you need one, you can use a non-breaking space — which tells the browser ‘I want a space here:     so don’t collapse it. I really mean it.’ (that should have been at least 3 spaces)

        13. King Daniel

          The poll currently has 8,464 voters as of this typing, which (excluding “Favorite/Hottest Character”-type polls, which regularly see over 10k voters, the record being around 12k) already makes it the third-most-voted-in DoA poll of all time for “general”-type polls…and by a margin of just around a thousand votes from the #1 spot. And Joyce is currently over three thousand votes behind Walky, so looking at prior patterns would make it seem unlikely that even a sudden surge would make her surpass him in that regard. 😛

        14. Reltzik

          People are allowed to change their votes after this strip, though.

          … wait, are they allowed to change their votes? I might be getting my website polling aps mixed up.

        15. milu

          i don’t think it’s so sophisticated that individual voters are offered the option to “change their vote”. I have definitely been able to cast more than one vote though.

        16. King Daniel

          Unless there’s something I’m missing, the ability to cast multiple votes is ordinarily limited to specific polls which allow for multiple choices (certain of the Favorite Character polls, for example).

        17. milu

          i mean i’ve voted on the same poll on different days. Maybe because i accessed the page from a different device, or network or whatever, i haven’t paid too much attention beyond going like, “i’m allowed to vote again?! sweet”

        18. Deanatay

          Panel 1: Lawyer standing around, dinosaur walks into frame.

          Panel 2: Dinosaur points and laughs at lawyer.

          Panel 3: Amazi-Girl With Chest Window swoops in, kicks lawyer in face

          Fixed it for ya

        19. thejeff

          1) Dina standing around, dinosaur walks into frame
          2) Dina critiques dinosaur design
          3) Monkey and dinosaur slink off screen in shame.

        20. Opus the Poet

          But does Dina even exist in DOA’s Walkyverse? I mean we are two comic universes deep there, can a character migrate from one universe to another inside one of the comic universes? The metaphysics are confounding.

        21. Clif

          Indeed you did.

        22. Julez

          I’m feeling pretty justified in my early Joyce vote.

      2. Yotomoe

        Don’t more people feel compelled to root for the underdog? I’m sure the poll would be waaay different if we were betting on who we think WILL win.

    2. Thag Simmons

      Sort of? Kind of deserves to be, honestly.

  5. RassilonTDavros

    I am simultaneously laughing and mourning Mike all over again.

    1. Clif

      Same

      1. Deanatay

        But Mike’s not even IN this comic…

        1. Clif

          Mike is a force of nature. Trust me ; he’s in the comic.

  6. Jane

    Depressingly, this seems more suited to the format than Joyce’s comic, even if it’s… Well, that.

  7. C.T Phipps

    I think this is how Ax Cop got started.

    1. Needfuldoer

      One day, at the scene of a kicking, a dinosaur found the perfect schadenfreude.

  8. Kyrik Michalowski

    Well Walky, it is better than I can draw that’s for certain. Not sure how I feel about the story yet but we need a few dozen strips before I can judge that.

    1. Kyrik Michalowski

      Also, I love that Mr Monkey and Dinosaur are tagged but the victim of the jumpkick goes unrecognized.

      1. Agemegos

        That’s Calvin’s dad from Calvin and Hobbes.

  9. Leorale

    Please join me in rejoicing for the Return of Lawsome

    1. King Daniel

      You mean JAWsome

    2. Keulen

      It’s beautiful. A rare bless you Willis for this.

  10. MM

    The title had me expecting a shark. 🙁

    1. RacingTurtle

      Someday a shark will be laughed at then jump kicked. It’ll be a special aquatic episode of JAWsome.

      1. Agemegos

        And the series will have jumped the shark.

        1. Clif

          Jump-kicked the shark, yeah.

    2. Tobias

      It had me expecting an Omori reference, to be specific. Though given the length of Willis’s buffer it’s entirely likely this strip was written before that game even came out.

  11. Stephen Bierce

    *plays Aldo Nova’s “Monkey On Your Back” on the hacked Muzak*

    1. CityKidd

      I’m thrilled someone else remembers Aldo Nova.

      1. Opus the Poet

        Life is just a fantasy.

  12. Robbie

    I feel like walky’s gonna get picked because his strips are less complicated

    1. Jhon

      Lucy: Why does this outfit have a cutout over the cleavage? I can’t wear this. It’s cold outside!
      Walky: But it’s for Journalism! I mean, Art!

  13. BBCC

    Looks like Walky misses Mike.

    1. Sirksome

      Has Mike ever actually jump kicked anyone in this comic though? It’s possible, but I don’t think he has.

      1. BBCC

        The character doing the kicking looks like him to me.

        1. Sirksome

          Mike didn’t die. He just went to a different universe where he’s a monkey that jump kicks people and hangs with dinosaurs! A better use of his time.

        2. Reltzik

          Witness Protection really went all-out.

        3. milu

          FUNNY COMMENT xD

        4. Clif

          If witness protection really moved Mike to another universe, that means Booster is free to learn all they can about Mike so that they can drop subtle clues to make Amber suspect they really are Mike, which will distract her from her and Jennifer’s plan to eventually record a confession from Asher. Amazigirl wants to see Asher behind bars, but Amber just wants to know who to thank for ordering the death of her father.

        5. milu

          “if 1 tinfoil hat theory = true
          then all tinfoil hat theories = true”
          is a meta tinfoil hat theory.
          which is true according to itself

        6. Opus the Poet

          JFK faked his death and also faked the moon landing… Too meta?

    2. Sombrero

      Looks like Walky’s inability to cope with Mike’s loss will make Mr. Monkey a media star.

  14. Yotomoe

    I mean getting a comic of yourself getting jumpkicked by a monkey is basically 2nd base. Befriending the monkey is 3rd.

    1. milu

      “Befriending” the “monkey”

      1. Keulen

        Is that what the kids are calling it these days?

        1. Falconer

          At this point I think it’s pretty clear that Lucy could be halfway through befriending Walky’s monkey before he’d even notice.

          Go crush on someone else, sweetheart. I hear that nice Jacob is single!

        2. Clif

          Mike can’t introduce them if he’s dead. Joyce can’t introduce them if she isn’t talking to Jacob. Joe doesn’t know Lucy and neither does Ethan. Sal wouldn’t be motivated. Walky is apparently oblivious.

          That leaves Danny, who doesn’t know either of them, but it’s Danny.

  15. StClair

    See, the joke is that it’s the sort of thing a literal five year old would find funny, and it’s being created by and for university students.

    Wait, that’s not the (intended) joke?

    1. milu

      Some 5 year olds are hilarious, honestly

      1. Doom Shepherd

        Axe Cop is funny, so…

    2. Sporky

      The joke is that it’s the sort of thing a literal five year old would find funny, and David Willis wrote it in his twenties.

      1. Roborat

        Well, aren’t his kids about the right age now?

      2. Jhon

        Hush! We agreed not to talk about that!

  16. Pan

    So since the guy in the comic doesn’t have a unique tag is it Walky?

  17. Proto_Eevee

    If Joyce’s comic is based on Roomies, then is Walky’s comic based on somebody else’s comic from back then?

    1. Diner Kinetic

      just google LAWsome

      It’ll be worth it

      1. Nayann Martinelli

        My life is changed forever, for I read the webcomic to end all webcomics and your mom.

      2. Proto_Eevee

        LAWsome is the best thing I’ve ever seen

        1. Sombrero

          You ain’t seen half of JAWsome yet.

    2. Agemegos

      Willis’s:

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/blog/lawsome/

  18. Grimeyville

    So the takeaway is that Walky and Joyce should work together right?

    RIGHT!?

    1. Proto_Eevee

      Walky would only bring her down.

      1. Clif

        I agree completely.

  19. Grimeyville

    So the takeaway is that Walky and Joyce should work together right?

    RIGHT!?

    1. Stanistani

      Joyce would only bring him down.

      1. Clif

        I agree completely.

      2. Roborat

        No, don’t bring him down, Bruce.

  20. UniqueSnowflake2

    Question: Is it “David *M.* Walkerton”?

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Hmm… if that’s the case, maybe the “M” could stand for “Mitchell?” That was Linda’s maiden name in the Walkyverse, though who knows if it still is here (Ruth’s and Dina’s last names got changed, after all).

      1. He Who Abides

        David Matilda Walkerton.

        1. Sombrero

          David Mike Walkerton

        2. RassilonTDavros

          David Martha Walkerton.

  21. butts

    Instant classic

    1. milu

      gamechanger

  22. AbacusWizard

    I had previously been voting for Joyce’s comic but this has me reconsidering.

    1. Deanatay

      Truly, Walky is honing his craft to a razor’s edge.

  23. Thag Simmons

    That is an awful monkey Walky

    1. Thag Simmons

      Dinosaur isn’t great either

      1. Clif

        The dinosaur is awful great. I agree completely.

  24. Yotomoe

    What if I draw you making out with Mr. Monkey. He could use a love interest.

    1. Kernanator

      And then they perform a double jumpkick on some asshole. Perfect!

      1. Clif

        Yotomoe can draw me making out with Mr. Monkey any time he wants. As long as I get a cut of any royalties.

  25. Nayann Martinelli

    Well, that is something, more than I expected an self-avowed lazy person to do, to be sure.

  26. DailyBrad

    I would genuinely read Joyce and Walky’s comics on a regular basis. Lord knows I’ve stuck with some comics that had less going on.

    (Not an invitation to trash other comics in replies, just since that feels like “and then feelings got hurt” territory.)

  27. Moonie

    This is honestly much funnier than Joyce’s

    1. Needfuldoer

      Eh, for now I chalk that up to the genre. Slice-of-life has staying power but needs more than a couple installments to get going, gag-a-day works immediately but won’t hold the audience’s attention if it’s always just the same gag every day.

      1. Clif

        Repetition legitimizes.

        1. Clif

          Repetition legitimizes.

        2. milu

          “How To Not Suck At Comics”

  28. Huehuetotl

    Dinosaur previously seen in book 1. Not tagged though.

    1. Huehuetotl

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2010/comic/book-1/02-uphill-from-here/notes/

      1. King Daniel

        And also here (in a sequel to the strip Huehuetotl linked): https://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/05-media-rumble/mine/

        1. Sirksome

          This is a really interesting strip to look back on now. You could even say it teased a DinaxWalky ship. Commentors seemed to think so. But over time their characters developed in a way that makes this strip seem a tiny bit surreal. It’s innocent enough not to be a mischaracterization but it’s like this was a early idea seed that didn’t grow. Would Dina even do something like this now? I’d say she probably dislikes Walky more than likes him. Does she still have the drawing? Very interesting.

        2. Clif

          Artist shmartest. It’s a dinosaur devouring a bowtied TA. What’s not to love?

  29. Buttery Commissar

    Strong suspicion neither of them get the gig, and some third outlier nets it instead.

    1. Bagge

      “Malaya? You wasn’t even in the competition.”

      “Eh, whatever.”

    2. DaveM

      Mary ends up being hired because Daisy finds her anime chick tracts to be hilarious, not realising Mary is being quite serious. Eventually they both discover the others real opinion and comedy happens (possibly sexy comedy).

      1. Agemegos

        Comedy: Mary suffers all the grim fates she inflicted on characters in her tracts as punishments for their sins.

        1. Opus the Poet

          That actually happened to the guy who did Chick Tracts. Sort of, he died a slow and painful death from cancer.

    3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Booster does a daily strip of people being told what is wrong with them.

      1. Clif

        But occasionally they will subtly slip in one involving nickles and your mom.

        1. Opus the Poet

          Or just nickels and moms in general.

  30. Bagge

    I want to see where Lucy’s idea is going.

    1. milu

      Actually if someone gets jumpkicked every time, having her just hang out with the t-rex and monkey subverts expectations. And that could actually be funny

    2. hof1991

      She reads Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, as should we all.

  31. Rycan

    And to think that Walky is being the considerate one when it comes to incorporating his friends into the comic…

  32. NinjaNick

    I won’t mind seeing a drawn Lucy jumpkick someone?

  33. Needfuldoer

    Why is Dinosaur laughing at Briefcase Guy before he gets jumpkicked? Is it the glasses and trenchcoat?

    Walky needs to work on his panel structure and timing.

    1. BenRG

      Walky doesn’t know either. He as much as admitted to Joyce that the whole thing would be just random from day one.

      1. Needfuldoer

        I thought the entire idea for LJAWsome was “every day, somebody different gets jumpkicked in the balls”. That’s only going to last a few consecutive strips before it gets stale.

        This one would’ve worked better with a fourth panel and a little re-arranging:

        1- Briefcase standing in a void, Monkey running into frame
        2- Briefcase surprised, Monkey in midair
        3- Briefcase kicked by Monkey, Dinosaur walks into frame
        4- Briefcase on the ground in the fetal position, protecting the smashed remains of his nads. Monkey farts on him. Dinosaur laughs.

        That doesn’t fix the problem that Walky only has one gag written (the exact opposite of Joyce’s problem), but it’s a start.

        1. Sombrero

          There are two main ways to avoid staleness in JAWsome:

          1. Mass appeal. Each day one widely hated public character gets kicked in the balls.

          2. Cult status. Each day one hugely lovable character gets kicked in the balls, and this quickly escalates to very daring heights (like kicking a small innocent child) until general uproar of the well-thinking forces Daisy to cancel the strip very early (say, after just 4-5 strips).

  34. BenRG

    Joyce, seriously? You have nothing to worry about so long as you get the characterisation issues fixed.

  35. Chronos

    …suddenly I realize Joyce and Walky are going to co-write the college comic.

    1. Lone Duck

      That’s my take too.

  36. milu

    GENIUS

  37. Keulen

    This makes me glad I voted for Walky in the poll.

  38. Kaffeeteria

    Walky is just a shitty person.

  39. Common sense

    Welp, his comics is already much more entertaining then Joyces.
    Sorry Girl. you made a good effort, but you simply couldnt step up to the high sense of Comedy and craftmanship that walky shows here.

  40. Nenja

    … I really hope Joyce gets the job.

    1. Reltzik

      I dunno, her first strip wasn’t that great either. At this point I think the answer to the question “who should get the newspaper comic strip job” is “neither”.

      1. thejeff

        It’s a campus paper strip. They’re really almost all bad.

        1. Roborat

          Hey, Bob the Angry Flower and Bub Slug both started in my University Paper in the early 1980s. Bob is still running and Bub morphed into Betty, which is also still running.

        2. Opus the Poet

          Also the characters that became the Simpsons started in a college comic about that same time.

        3. thejeff

          Yeah, there are lots of good comics that started in college papers. But there hundreds of college papers with multiple new comic strips at least every four years. Probably a few dozen of which ever went anywhere.
          I stand by them really almost all being bad. Despite the exceptions.

  41. Rabisch

    Wow Walky…. Everyone can easly see Bill Watterson’s influence on you. This can be a success!

  42. Fist_of_Life

    The idea of having Lucy in the comic, but actually getting dropkicked gave me an idea. They could have people submit their names into a drawing that picks a winner every so often. The winner’s prize? They get featured in the Walky’s comic and get dropkicked.

    1. Reltzik

      Could they submit other peoples’ names?

  43. Varangian

    Briefcase Guy is kind of Jason-shaped…Man, EVERYONE is drawing people dark-haired, huh…

  44. LightPunster

    It’s a commentary on the absurdity of modern life and the desire to Return to Monke, or even Revert to Rex

    1. milu

      (LightPunster & Milu (2021). “Insult To Injury: a hermeneutic journey into the paroxystic solipsism and post-baudrillardian nostalgia of David Walkerton’s Jawsome”, Bloomington University Tabloid of Terrible Scholarship, vol. 1)

  45. Didi

    Dina would be angry. This dinosaur isn’t accurate

  46. Tabris FireWater

    Walky’s is roughly 15 million times better than Joyce’s.
    I’m not even joking. I really miss Lawsome.

  47. Jhon

    gets out pins and notes and colored string

    Daisy needs a girlfriend. And she wants photos of a super-heroine as a focus for her fantasy life.
    Amazi-Girl has hung up the cape, according to Walky.
    Walky has dressed up as the hero ‘NightGuy’, possibly as a reaction to feeling useless during the kidnapping.
    When Walky mentions NightGuy to Daisy, she hears ‘NightGirl’.
    Walky is excited about making a comic, but struggling for a theme to base it on.
    Lucy has a poster of Starfire, and a crush on Walky.
    Mike, who could be relied upon to crush everyone’s fantasies to the ground, is dead.
    Booster, Walky’s replacement roommate, is into photography. And wants to show off by telling everyone how messed up they are.

    Ethan, now on a journey of self discovery, returns to find Indiana University lying in ruins.

    1. SolomonK

      What theme or themes are explored in Dumbing of Age? Is there a forum where questions like mine are discussed?

      1. Clif

        Discuss away.

        The obvious theme is of young people growing up and becoming better people by virtue of doing dumb things and having to learn from the experience. It’s a universal theme because, in reality, the process never stops; you just graduate to bigger and better learning opportunities by doing ever more sophisticated dumb things.

    2. milu

      OH MY GOD
      HOW DID WE NO SEE IT
      IT ALL MAKES PERFECT SENSE NOW

  48. jdorr

    What if she befriends them to help jump kick people?

  49. Alex

    I hate to say it but this is actually way funnier than the Julia Gray characters staring at each other awkwardly.

  50. BenRG

    Jeph Jacques once had a side-continuity set around a verbally abusive songbird, a human and a variety of other weird creatures including an Orb of Shame and a Bandicoot that was also some kind of representation.

    SUGGESTION
    Rex and Monkey are the Lucy expy’s imaginary friends (or so she thinks of them) and the fact that something resembling them keeps on laughing at and jump-kicking people she doesn’t like is just a weird coincidence. Or is it?

    Something at least as bizarre sustained Girls With Slingshots for years!

    1. Alex

      I have trouble imagining Lucy not liking someone.

    2. Opus the Poet

      Pedro and Pudding Cat (Choo Choo Bear from Something*Positive in a crossover).

      1. Opus the Poet

        Speaking of that, what happened to the S*P crossover with Carla from SP! ?

  51. Diane

    I can’t wait to see what Asher draws for comics. Because he totally would because Jennifer is going to the newspaper place, and doesn’t want Walky there so she has Asher do it so he has no reason to go there.

    I’m throwing stuff at a wall and seeing if it sticks, but I think it’d be best if NEITHER Walky or Joyce did the comic now.

    1. Clif

      But then we wouldn’t get to see more of Joyce’s strip and we wouldn’t get to see more of Mike Mr. Monkey.

  52. Segnosaur

    The big question I have is…

    Will Dina love the comic because it has a dinosaur in it, or will she hate it because the dinosaur does not have the correct anatomy?

    1. Jhon

      Scroll up and you will find a link to a Walky dino doodle that Dina enjoyed.

      (Always read the comments before you post. When I neglect to do this, I often end up looking like an idiot.)

      1. milu

        otoh in that strip (here’s a relink for convenience) though the T-Rex’s forelimbs are exaggerated, their overall posture is not shown and may not be faulty. But a T-Rex with a vertical spine??! SMH in Dina

        1. Agemegos

          Sydney Morning Herald?

        2. milu

          Yeah im not sure why i capitalized that.
          But just in case you actually didnt know what it stands for: Shaking My Head!

  53. Brighter Side

    I’m not sure if this wildly surpassed expectations or disappointed me. Either way, it’s a very Walky comic.

    1. Clif

      It could do both.

  54. Roborat

    Well I am going to go out on a limb here, and predict that Ryan North has nothing to worry about.

  55. Spencer

    I can’t believe David M. Willis referenced the seminal 90s classic animated series, Street Sharks, in the year of our lord 2021.

  56. mrnoidea

    Alternate comic title: Insult Before Injury

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