Journey

202 Replies to “Journey”

    1. From his expression, I’m thinking it’s the former.

      Also, I love how horrified the T-Rex looks while Dina herself has murder eyes.

      1. Looking at previous comics, it seems like Dina always seems to have “murder eyes” in the costume.

        To be honest I’m not sure Dina would hate or be horrified by the naked guy or the haunted house, probably more confused than anything. (After all, although she is in a gay relationship with Becky, she doesn’t seem to have the same negative reactions to men that Becky does.)

        1. I’m actually 90% sure Dina isn’t driving that dinosaur – I think her HAT is in control. That’s what we’re seeing through that slit.

          1. Good God, I think you’re right. Those eyes are the exact shape of the eyes on her hat, and don’t match the style her actual eyes are usually drawn in.

  1. This is all just some sort of weird kink on Mary’s part, isn’t it.

    Like, she’s into exhibitionism, but only when it’s other people.

        1. pretty sure Willis isn’t notified until it’s flagged 5 times, so misclicks aren’t a big deal. (besides, he’d just review it and dismiss the report)

    1. She’s into exhibitionism (and voyeurism) but only if she can justify it as religiously valid.

      I mean, that’s basically her entire vibe, no? Massively judgmental + “It doesn’t count if X?” hypocrisy, trying to balance a healthy libido with self hatred?

        1. Yeah, I’ve been thinking exactly the same thing (in essence; hadn’t heard the G&O song. Those are good lyrics!)

    1. Judging from where Mary’s hand is in frame two I think everyone saw Peter’s Peter. And if it was one of those costumes that makes you look like a Ken doll I don’t think Becky would have had that reaction.

  2. So if nudity is done in the name of (western) religion, it’s suddenly acceptable?

    The one-sidedness here is quite revealing. ?

      1. Christianity being called “western religion” will honestly never stop being weird to me, considering its origins (or the fact that it does actually still exists in regions that are very much not “western”).

        1. I consider the American version of Christianity to be its own thing. It’s the whole “Jesus vs. Jeezus” thing.

          1. I would refer to that as Tea Party Christianity. Christianity designed to support extreme Republican beliefs while ignoring any part of Jesus’ teachings that don’t line up with those beliefs.

            On an unrelated note…Imposter.

          2. Honestly, I actually refuse to consider whatever the American right practices “Christianity” at all, considering they seem to fail at the very basics already.

        2. Right? There are no cowboys in the freaking bible! Every time I hear Western religion I sigh cause there is no saloon shoot out in the bible…

        3. Yeah but honestly the xtianity exists in the levant and the general region beyond operates fairly differently from the way that western european and US/Canadian xtianity does

          1. How so? I mean how religions work certainly varies by culture, but then “western European and US/Canadian xtianity” is also an extremely broad and varied range.

      1. Thank you so much for putting this up!

        With this new evidence, my parasite senses indicate a significant likelihood of a Mary x Peter slipshine.

      2. Also? Really hoping that this is Willis extrapolating logical if unlikely outcomes from lunacy he saw in the past (a known Mary attending figure drawing classes, mebbe?), and not, y’know, depicting actual experience here. Yikes.

    1. She’s following a long tradition in Christianity of using Bible stories as an excuse to put naked people in art. It’s just that this time the naked people are medium rather than subject.

    2. Real talk, this is exactly why a lot of historical nude paintings were allowed to exist. It’s not porno if it’s religion/mythology/culture.

    3. Of course. That’s why Hollywood used to crank out Biblical epics back in the day. No actual nudity, but they did have lots of violence and implied sex. But, hey, if it’s from the Bible it can’t be bad, right?

  3. I was born an original sinner/I was born of original sin
    And if I had a Dollar bill for all the things I’ve done
    There’d be a mountain of money-money-money-money-money…

        1. Not sure how you made the jump from “the image of Eve resembles Joyce” to “Mary knows Joyce is an atheist”. (And that’s even assuming the image was SUPPOSED to look like joyce and isn’t just a coincidence.)

          Joyce is tolerant of non-christians… to someone like Mary, that is enough for them to be criticized.

          1. Yeah Mary is absolutely the kind of Christian where she’ll judge other Christians for not christianing “correctly”

  4. …I’m kind of surprised Mary is okay with her boyfriend standing, naked, with a naked woman who is not her

    1. That’s why the other woman is a cardboard stand. If you look real close at panel one you can see the bit that props her up.

      1. Also she appears to fold into thirds.

        Also also I accidentally flagged this comment and there doesn’t appear to be a way to undo that I’m sorry

        1. Don’t worry about accidental misclicks! Nothing happens to flagged comments until they accumulate multiple flags from multiple users, and even then they just get hidden until Willis reviews them.

    2. Is it a double standard to have a cardboard cut out for Eve but a live person for Adam? Also either Dina will get overheated in that suit or Peter is way to cold.

      1. I think it’s more likely she couldn’t find someone to force into that role like she perhaps could with Peter.

        Either he’s a very good actor or he is not enjoying this role. I know which I think it is.

      2. Knowing Dina, she’d be more smart enough to anticipate such conditions ahead of time and modify her costume accordingly. ?

      3. Dina should be fine. Those things are just thin nylon kept under positive pressure by a blower fan.

        Besides, any discomfort will be worth it because dinosaur costume.

    1. From what few details I can make out in the first panel, they’re either smaller than usual size or uncircumcised.

    1. I think the only way that would work is the Garfunkle and Oates Loophole, and I don’t watch or read anal porn.

  5. In several of the Discworld books Terry Pratchett posits that the difference between art and pornography is the presence of a nice vase or two.

    1. “In several of the Discworld books Terry Pratchett posits that the difference between art and pornography is the presence of a nice vase or two.”

      So what you’re saying is the more jugs showing, the better?

  6. I’d feel for this guy but he just exposed himself to a bunch of stranger’s on Mary’s command.

    Wait, is Mary dating Louis CK?

    1. Based on his expression in panel 2 I think he’s either a very good actor or is extremely unhappy with this role.

      I don’t think he’s getting off on this.

        1. Eventually. For the moment, it’s still something out of touch right wing college students say. Mary’s likely joined Turning Point.

  7. I like that the role of Eve is being played by a cardboard cutout.

    Is this hell house just going to be a serious of excuses for sexy Peter, I wonder?

  8. was not prepared to check DoA today and learn too much about mary’s kinks (by which I mean anything about mary’s kinks)

  9. Okay so this one took a few minutes to hit me but the whole thing with the tree was that it contained Knowledge of Good and Evil, right? And sure, God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat it, meaning he wanted them kept in the dark, but comparing learning of Good and Evil to becoming “Woke” is effectively saying that Wokeness=Knowledge. As in, it’s a position based on actually accurate information

    Way to shoot yourself in the foot, Mary.

    1. Indeed.

      Also, it amazes me that so many groups take this story as a bad thing. It’s a metaphor for growing up – when you mature into an adult, you gain knowledge that means you are no longer a child and should leave home and start your own life.
      It’s basically an ancient version of ‘if you’re old enough to experience sexual attraction, you’re old enough to get a job and get out of my basement’.

      1. Yeah well, the most problem I’ve found with it is that it is extremely often used to point to the “sin of womanhood” basically, and blaming us for the bad things in the world. I literally had a guy bring his little daughter to my doorstep and explain this specific point to me. He claimed we had redempion in god and repentance. She was like, eight.
        I hate it, thank you very much. Your version is nice though. Wish everyone could interpret it like that.

      2. Some people, however, would very much like to remain in the state of childhood as long as possible – even being willing to forego greater freedom and self-determination (which inevitably comes with greater responsibility) in favor of security, stability, etc. To this sort, IMO, the role (and appeal) of God is that of a stern but loving parental figure who will never leave them and and who they will never outgrow. Just follow their rules faithfully and you will never have to finish growing up and go out into the big scary world all alone.

      3. This make me wonder beyond: was the original intention of God to create us like cattle? Like, ignoring we could die someday?
        Ok, I’m tripping hard here

    2. I recently read a very interesting take (I guess it might be labelled as part of the Midrash) on the story of Genesis from Rabbi Dayna Ruttenberg (she’s online and on social media) suggesting that the “original sin” was NOT eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The sin was LYING about it. When god asked Adam about eating the fruit, he blamed Eve. Then Eve blamed the serpent, which could have been Satan/Lilith/Leviathan, depending on what you read. IF eating the fruit is seen as a metaphor for growing up an not being a child anymore (Fromm and a BUNCH of other people have argued this), Adam and Eve’s lies can be seen as a regression. According to Ruttenberg, god *wanted* them to show independence by eating the fruit but when they lied about why they did it, they had to be taught independence in a different way by being expelled from the Garden of Childhood.

      I’m not saying I 100% agree with this, but it’s an interesting perspective on a creation story. But I AM 100% sure that Mary would regard it as heresy! 😉

        1. It depends on how you view Leviathan, who may be derived from pre-Christian chtonic figures and sea serpent legends. In some stories, Lilith becomes the bride of Leviathan, who may also kind of be Sammael. I’m not a Christian but I still find this stuff fascinating, especially how it connects to older and current belief systems.

      1. I HATE that! I find world religions and the stories connected with them so interesting as metaphors for and examples of how we humans understand ourselves, the world around us, and our mortality (sadly, the last has become MUCH more pertinent for many people since 2020…). I think anything that doesn’t stand up to critical examination and critical thinking isn’t worthwhile. As Thoreau said, “The unexamined life isn’t worth living” and I also believe that the “unexamined world” and the “unexamined ideologies” aren’t worth living in.

        I’m aware that I am SUPER lucky to have grown up in a secular humanist home (my paternal relatives were kind of oppressively religious, but my mom was having NONE of that and made sure to tell my sisters and me that they were offensive and wrong).

        I honestly can’t understand “blind faith” like Mary has; if I’m going to believe in something, it dang well better stand up to critical inquiry! I’m not saying that *everything* is explainable all the time, but at the very least there should be critical discussion about it. I mislike whenever beliefs and descisions aren’t open to question. I WON’T, but I COULD, relate this to some current events in the US. 🙁

        1. Totally with you on ALL this!

          Re: “blind faith” like Mary, this is most likely a result of her upbringing in formative years. Having been indoctrinated from such a young age, this is likely a core part of how she views reality.

          “Give me the child until they are seven, and I will show you the adult.”

          — Aristotle

    3. Like many stories in the Bible, not only does the ‘official’ explanation for them/interpretation of them NOT hold up under scrutiny – a close examination reveals the lessons they’re supposed to teach as actually being nonsensical, horrifying or outright manipulative and cruel. Like here, where learning morality is supposed to be a BAD thing, not one of the duties parents have to teach their children.

    1. Who knows?

      Perhaps this part of the experience is just a fake-out to create a false sense of hope for when they get around to the real part.

      I sure hope not.

  10. ah, so this is a way for mary to be ‘acceptably thirsty’ (well there is a stereotype of christian girls getting married ridiculously quick)

    1. Kinda makes me wonder about her choice to take a life drawing class. I don’t know if we know Mary’s major or not, but we do know she’s got life drawing with Malaya. I wonder if this isn’t a longer-term thing with Mary, where she looks at classical art as a means of sublimating her horniness or some such.

    2. Mary gets MARRIED….

      for pragmatic selfish cartoon-villain reasons of course.

      would make a good story arc, actually!

  11. Mary, if the Bible SAYS it’s naked, does it still not count as naked when it’s from the Bible? Because the Bible most definitely says they were naked.

    Cherry picking is usually a bit less threadbare than this, and yes, I do mean bare of any threads.

    1. IIRC, it also says that they were not ashamed (Gen 2:25) until AFTER they had eaten of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

  12. Get in line in that processional
    Step into that small confessional
    There the guy who’s got religion’ll
    Tell you if your sin’s original
    If it is, try playin’ it safer,
    Drink the wine and chew the wafer
    Two, four, six, eight,
    Time to transubstantiate!

    (I know, Tom Lehrer was singing about Catholicism, but any mention of “sin that’s original” sends me into “The Vatican Rag”.)

  13. why on earth would you possibly do this peter???

    …also how many human bible dioramas could mary possibly construct in a dorm room? did she really get a spotlight for this?? does she have stagehands??? as an atheist i’m rolling my eyes but as a lover of bad theatre i’m fascinated.

    1. If Mary can justify getting her boyfriend naked for this she probably has a loophole for premarital hanky panky. All Peter needs to do is play his cards right.

  14. Whelp, Mary’s being creepy and weird again.
    She really IS what Joyce would have turned into if she didn’t have a heart or… WANT to know more about others.

  15. my predictions: bland to anyone that isn’t a westboro, or, so messed up it makes everyone feel sick

    What i didn’t expect: weirdo with a bible fetish

  16. Wait a sec… This strip is tagged with “peter”… Is that refering to peter the person, or peter the slang term for male genitalia?

  17. The more we find out about Mary, the more we see what a weird person she is. If she were not a terribly bigoted, she would be one of the most loved and interesting characters. Poor Peter seems to have been forced to collaborate. I wonder if Mary herself will be a naked characters in one of the next questionable dioramas. Obviously, as soon as Ruth sees this she will shut everything down and Mary will do the dramatic scene of the artist censored by the authorities for her Art and her faith.

  18. Is… is this legal? Because “suprise, naked dude that you didn’t sign up for” strikes me as falling under that whole “indecent exposure” thing.

    1. It’s false advertisment at the very least. I mean, I know Mary doesn’t believe in conent warning, but this is nsfl.

  19. this has GOTTA fall into some kinda rule-breaking for the dorms, right?? Mary??? Mary you didnt THINK of this because you thought it wouldnt matter if it was ”’historical”’ from the Bibble?? MARY????

    1. I believe Willis has stated that he regrets how he did that whole thing with Mary in the It’s Walky storyline, and wouldn’t be doing it again in DoA.

      …of course, this being Mister @DamnYouWillis, YMMV on how much to trust the specifics of that statement…

  20. Becky: Dina, forget everything you’ve seen here!

    Dina: It’s the Creation myth, as soon as I realized it’s historically and geologically inaccurate, I disregarded it.

  21. I thought this would be like what I’ve heard hell houses are like, not Mary accidentally showing off her kinks while pretending the Bible supports them.

    1. Oh, it’s anime cutout or something. . .
      What, can’t find a naked anime cutout or something for biblical accuracy?

      1. I think the cutout is naked. The lines across are where it gets folded up and the bottom part that looks like it could be a sheer dress is just background because it couldn’t stand up if cut down to just the legs.

  22. This Halloween i’ll be going as someone with good self esteem that doesn’t put himself down all the time.

    my costume will probably suck though…

  23. I’d like to focus on the last line here: “it doesn’t count as naked if it’s from the bible.”

    We laugh at Mary because of how obviously delusional and self serving this statement is – but then i remembered this pro-life leader’s statement “If a 10-year-old became pregnant as a result of rape and it was threatening her life, then that’s not an abortion,” Glenn Foster said. “So it would not fall under any abortion restriction in our nation.”

    I mean, i can’t.even. How delusional do you have to be to pretend killing isn’t killing? How evil do you have to be to try to fool the rest of us into accepting your redefinition? This is what happens to your brain on religion.

    1. Did you just read about that recently and wanna talk about that and kinda used the Mary thing as a pretense? It’s just, it’s a really distressing topic that’s tangential to Mary’s behavior, so it’s not where my own brain would normally go, so I’m curious where it came from. Not aiming even a little bit of shade, I promise, only interested.

      1. No, sorry. That’s literally the first thing i thought of when i read her line.

        Did you have a different reaction to it?

    2. I don’t really understand the “pretend killing isn’t killing” part. That almost sounds like you’re defending the abortion ban even for 10 year olds – in the “killing a baby is still killing a baby even if the mom is a raped 10 year old kid” sense.

  24. my first thought: but… they have bellybuttons.
    it took me a while to clue in that it was real people, not a poster. and I’m still surprised Mary didn’t make them cover their bellybuttons.

  25. Also a protestant priest once told me (IIRC) that in the original language (aramaic?) the word for sin first appears when Kain slays Abel.

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