Dumbing of Age Book Fourteen

Dumbing of Age

A college webcomic by David Willis
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October 20, 2026

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Monitor

Posted In: comic
└ Tags: becky, ruth

Discussion (108) ¬

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  1. Ana Chronistic
    Ana Chronistic
    May 30, 2023 at 12:01 am | # | Reply

    Becky playing 12th-dimensional chess again?

    • Mr. Random
      Mr. Random
      May 30, 2023 at 12:06 am | # | Reply

      Or at least 2nd-dimensional chess.

      • Switchchris
        Switchchris
        May 30, 2023 at 12:10 am | # | Reply

        Or it is 8th-dimensional checkers and we just think she is playing chess.

        • motorfirebox
          motorfirebox
          May 30, 2023 at 6:09 pm | # | Reply

          8th-dimensional checkers actually factors down into several games of 1-dimensional parcheesi.

          • motorfirebox
            motorfirebox
            May 30, 2023 at 6:10 pm | # | Reply

            Haha holy shit I’m blowjob cat this is amazing

      • Dana
        Dana
        May 30, 2023 at 12:11 am | # | Reply

        I prefer one dimensional chess. I’m a sucker for stalemate.

      • Harmony
        Harmony
        May 30, 2023 at 8:47 am | # | Reply

        That’s impressive, considering normal chess IS three dimensional considering the time component.

        • Alaric
          Alaric
          May 30, 2023 at 10:20 am | # | Reply

          Four dimensional. You have to pick up the pieces to move them.

    • Angel
      Angel
      May 30, 2023 at 12:18 am | # | Reply

      i mean she and dina were shouting/bragging after they hooked uplol

    • ValdVin
      ValdVin
      May 30, 2023 at 6:28 am | # | Reply

      There but a single strategy in chess: Always be thinking one move dimension ahead of your opponent.

      • milu
        milu
        May 30, 2023 at 7:59 am | # | Reply

        And then flip the table when your opponent says that time-travelling laser-shooting bishops are not allowed

    • Xaeon
      Xaeon
      May 30, 2023 at 8:33 am | # | Reply

      She is attempting to, however this is a tic tac toe board.

  2. Shitbird
    Shitbird
    May 30, 2023 at 12:02 am | # | Reply

    What’s the secret?

    • Erica
      Erica
      May 30, 2023 at 12:03 am | # | Reply

      I think that Joyce is dating Joe?

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        May 30, 2023 at 12:05 am | # | Reply

        That seems like a secret in the same way Becky and Dina fucking was a secret. It’s a thing that happened but it’s not exactly privileged information at this point.

    • Thag Simmons
      Thag Simmons
      May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

      I assume that Dorothy decided against going to Yale.

    • Jo_cubstar
      Jo_cubstar
      May 30, 2023 at 12:05 am | # | Reply

      I thought the secret was that Dorothy doesn’t wanna go to the college she was accepted to… I forgot what the school was

      • BarerMender
        BarerMender
        May 30, 2023 at 12:19 am | # | Reply

        Yole? Yal?

        • Mancuso
          Mancuso
          May 30, 2023 at 1:52 am | # | Reply

          Yool

          • Anna
            Anna
            May 30, 2023 at 7:10 am | # | Reply

            Y’all

            • Theluxland
              Theluxland
              May 30, 2023 at 7:36 am | # | Reply

              Yikes

              • milu
                milu
                May 30, 2023 at 7:55 am | # | Reply

                Yeowlz

                • Stanistani
                  Stanistani
                  May 30, 2023 at 10:26 am | #

                  Yanaconda

                • Rose by Any Other Name
                  Rose by Any Other Name
                  May 30, 2023 at 3:58 pm | #

                  Yeul

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        May 30, 2023 at 12:26 am | # | Reply

        Not Brown?

    • RassilonTDavros
      RassilonTDavros
      May 30, 2023 at 12:06 am | # | Reply

      The reason why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

    • V
      V
      May 30, 2023 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

      That Dorothy isn’t going to Yale, I assume, since that’s the secret that both Becky and Ruth know.
      Becky: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/02-turning-saints-into-the-sea/accepted/
      Ruth: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2023/comic/book-13/03-joementum/inwithyou/

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      May 30, 2023 at 12:23 am | # | Reply

      The only secret they both know is that Dorothy’s not going to Yale, but that’s not what Ruth is worried about.

      • JessWitt
        JessWitt
        May 30, 2023 at 1:00 am | # | Reply

        She’s worried about letting Dorothy drink from her stash, right?

    • NGPZ
      NGPZ
      May 30, 2023 at 2:04 am | # | Reply

      how much ya wanna bet Dorothy is sleeping in the Pile of Lesbos?

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      May 30, 2023 at 6:10 am | # | Reply

      Antiperspirant, but that’s not important right now.

      • RoyanRannedos
        RoyanRannedos
        May 30, 2023 at 10:21 am | # | Reply

        And don’t call me Shirley!

  3. DailyBrad
    DailyBrad
    May 30, 2023 at 12:02 am | # | Reply

    I love how Becky isn’t afraid to push Ruth’s buttons a little. Probably for the best. If Ruth didn’t have someone to annoy her a bit, she’d go kinda nuts.

    • jeffepp
      jeffepp
      May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

      Redhead dominance. Only one can be the true daywalker.

      • Reltzik
        Reltzik
        May 30, 2023 at 12:07 am | # | Reply

        … that’d be the one with SPF 2000.

        • Reltzik
          Reltzik
          May 30, 2023 at 12:07 am | # | Reply

          (Because it’s winter. If it was summer it would need to be over 9000.)

          • Kyrik Michalowski
            Kyrik Michalowski
            May 30, 2023 at 12:13 am | # | Reply

            Vegeta9000.gif

        • Thag Simmons
          Thag Simmons
          May 30, 2023 at 12:20 am | # | Reply

          Look you just need to live in a climate where the sun never shines and when it does you can dress in heavy clothing without broiling alive.

    • Angel
      Angel
      May 30, 2023 at 12:20 am | # | Reply

      it’s the slightly b*tchy wlw solidarity 8D

      • DailyBrad
        DailyBrad
        May 30, 2023 at 1:23 am | # | Reply

        Yeah, that’s probably part of how she can get away with that. Ruth and her both mutually know they’ve been through shit, plus Ruth knows Becky respects her.

  4. tim gueguen
    tim gueguen
    May 30, 2023 at 12:02 am | # | Reply

    Some day Becky and Carla will team up. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

    • Just an Armadillo
      Just an Armadillo
      May 30, 2023 at 12:09 am | # | Reply

      As long as they’re teaming up against Mary or somebody else of her ilk I can tolerate that sort of combo. But if they aren’t working to destroy a homo/trans phobe then I’m probably going to get very fed up with them very quickly.

    • Switchchris
      Switchchris
      May 30, 2023 at 12:14 am | # | Reply

      I don’t think Becky would actually vibe with Carla. Becky may be a troll but she is a good natured troll, she never actually tries to ruin people’s day or anything. Carla on the other hand Lives to be the center of everybody’s world to the point of forcing herself into them in any way possible. She seems like the kind of troll that would see you enjoying a date with the person you love and then roller-skate over and flip the table you are eatting at. Becky would simply tease you a little bit after the date was over.

      • Imogen
        Imogen
        May 30, 2023 at 12:24 am | # | Reply

        This feels like a cartoonishly meanspirited read of Carla, even by the “comedic narcissist” rewrite of Carla we’ve seen lately.

        I kind of enjoy Carla better than Becky. I don’t know why, but it might be because we know a lot of Carla’s cockiness comes from defensiveness, whereas Becky’s is more “teen rebellion”.

        • DailyBrad
          DailyBrad
          May 30, 2023 at 1:24 am | # | Reply

          Meanwhile, I like both of them a lot.

        • Wereg
          Wereg
          May 30, 2023 at 3:00 pm | # | Reply

          Carla’s attitude really reminds me of a transwoman I used to be friends with. Got real confident after she came out and it was incredibly nice to see, even if it did seem to border on the narcissistic sometimes.

          Good memories. Carla’s always fun to see.

      • cbwroses
        cbwroses
        May 30, 2023 at 12:33 am | # | Reply

        Carla would definitely skate by a loving couple on a date, but she would not flip the table over or do anything else destructive.
        She would get their attention just long enough to tell them not enough of their attention was on her and would then skate away.

    • DailyBrad
      DailyBrad
      May 30, 2023 at 1:24 am | # | Reply

      I’d dig it, honestly.

    • PirateTawnee
      PirateTawnee
      May 30, 2023 at 4:25 am | # | Reply

      If it gets Carla to appear in more strips, then I’m all for it.

  5. DarkoNeko
    DarkoNeko
    May 30, 2023 at 12:03 am | # | Reply

    Sure you are.

    • Angel
      Angel
      May 30, 2023 at 12:22 am | # | Reply

      well she does like shouting that she’s a lesbian to ppl but that’s not exactly a secret

  6. RassilonTDavros
    RassilonTDavros
    May 30, 2023 at 12:03 am | # | Reply

    Look Becky, Dorothy being Amazi-Girl is old news at this point

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      May 30, 2023 at 6:12 am | # | Reply

      I thought that was Sal?

      • Furie
        Furie
        May 30, 2023 at 12:39 pm | # | Reply

        Nah, she’s Spider-Car.

  7. Stephen Bierce
    Stephen Bierce
    May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

    *cues up The Beatles to follow up Buckingham*

  8. Amelie Wikström
    Amelie Wikström
    May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

    I think Becky’s found the most effective way possible to argue against being included on a secret?

    • Amelie Wikström
      Amelie Wikström
      May 30, 2023 at 12:21 am | # | Reply

      Like, she’s clearly either lying or bluffing, but either way that look in panel 5 just says “don’t trust me.” What’s Ruth supposed to do with that besides go “fine we’ll just drop it then”?

    • Angel
      Angel
      May 30, 2023 at 12:23 am | # | Reply

      lol well hopefully ppl won’t be too tempted/be respectful if someone is just like “oh i can’t/won’t keep a secret” that said ruth could just ask becky to keep an eye on dorothy without giving a reason but i’d hope she’d care about dorothy enough to be concerned if she was acting a bit ‘off’, alcohol or not

  9. Thag Simmons
    Thag Simmons
    May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

    You know what, A for Effort.

  10. Rogue 7
    Rogue 7
    May 30, 2023 at 12:04 am | # | Reply

    Honestly Ruth’s expression is how I think I’d look if I had to deal with Becky.

  11. Reltzik
    Reltzik
    May 30, 2023 at 12:06 am | # | Reply

    “Everyone likes to play ‘I know that you know that I know that you know’ with me. But I don’t actually know anything, and that lets me outsmart ’em!”

    (No, I don’t know which one of them would be saying that. I still thought it was funny.)

    • Ray Radlein
      Ray Radlein
      May 30, 2023 at 2:24 am | # | Reply

      Congrats, you’ve just written the first half of Nine Princes in Amber

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        May 30, 2023 at 2:37 am | # | Reply

        So now it’s time for the car-eating dogs?

        • Ray Radlein
          Ray Radlein
          May 30, 2023 at 4:46 am | # | Reply

          It’s always time for car-eating dogs

    • Needfuldoer
      Needfuldoer
      May 30, 2023 at 6:14 am | # | Reply

      I know, you know, that I’m not telling the truth.
      I know, you know, they just don’t have any proof.

  12. Grayfinity
    Grayfinity
    May 30, 2023 at 12:08 am | # | Reply

    Ruth: This was a mistake…

  13. BBCC
    BBCC
    May 30, 2023 at 12:09 am | # | Reply

    She does, doesn’t she?

    Doesn’t she?

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      May 30, 2023 at 12:21 am | # | Reply

      I want to take a shot in the dark and say that is a Flight of Conchords reference.

  14. Kyrik Michalowski
    Kyrik Michalowski
    May 30, 2023 at 12:11 am | # | Reply

    Spoilers: Becky’s big secret and Ruth’s big secret are similar, but Ruth’s sees more of the whole picture.
    In short Becky? No you don’t know the same secret, you just know a bit of Ruth’s.

    • justin8448
      justin8448
      May 30, 2023 at 2:20 am | # | Reply

      I’m pretty sure that Becky knows *why* Dorothy plans to turn down Yale, while Ruth does not. That might be important information later.

      So I think they both have only part of the secret.

      • Mark
        Mark
        May 30, 2023 at 7:27 am | # | Reply

        Overlapping distinct secrets? Wanna start the Venn diagram? How many secrets are there, and what do they share?

        • milu
          milu
          May 30, 2023 at 7:50 am | # | Reply

          The venn diagram has an isolated circle way off to the side labeled “jennifer” and containing “amazi-girl = sal”

    • HueSatLight
      HueSatLight
      May 30, 2023 at 9:27 pm | # | Reply

      It’s something she’d piece together with just a little more information, Becky’s astute and the last conversation between them we saw was Dorothy being in semi-denial about needing to be ethically gray to be president. Becky wouldn’t be playing this “I know a secret” game if she knew Ruth was talking about Dorothy’s Dark Night of the Soul.

  15. Slartibeast Button, BIA
    Slartibeast Button, BIA
    May 30, 2023 at 12:13 am | # | Reply

    Sorry, but asking her to “Monitor Dorothy’s Mood” has me thinking of Becky lying on a float in a swimming pool with a cheesebox on her back.

    • Kyrik Michalowski
      Kyrik Michalowski
      May 30, 2023 at 12:19 am | # | Reply

      I thought for a moment you said “cheesecake.” I was prepared to go retrieve it from Becky’s back, but a cheesebox isn’t as exciting.

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        May 30, 2023 at 12:25 am | # | Reply

        Cheesecake pictures of Becky in a swimming pool have their appeal, but that’s another area entirely.

    • cbwroses
      cbwroses
      May 30, 2023 at 12:35 am | # | Reply

      What is a cheese box?
      Does it involve actual cheese or is it just a name?

      • Slartibeast Button, BIA
        Slartibeast Button, BIA
        May 30, 2023 at 12:40 am | # | Reply

        It is a round box perhaps 3 inches tall and 12 inches across. But I was referencing the USS Monitor, a radical designed ironclad warship in the US Civil War, which was described as looking like a “cheesebox on a raft.

        Cheesecake, on the other hand, is a food item, but also used as an adjective for non-explicit sexy pictures.

        • Slartibeast Button, BIA
          Slartibeast Button, BIA
          May 30, 2023 at 12:41 am | # | Reply

          And cheese was involved because cheeseboxes were used to store wheels of cheese, or so I assume.

          • Ray Radlein
            Ray Radlein
            May 30, 2023 at 2:25 am | # | Reply

            You could make one merrymac ‘n’ cheese with that

          • Needfuldoer
            Needfuldoer
            May 30, 2023 at 4:09 am | # | Reply

            Oh. I thought they were “made of”, not “for storing”.

        • Mark
          Mark
          May 30, 2023 at 7:29 am | # | Reply

          Thanks: I had no clue about your reference, but now it makes perfect sense. Well imagined!

        • Jo_cubstar
          Jo_cubstar
          May 30, 2023 at 10:06 am | # | Reply

          Thanks for that explanation. I had no idea what a cheesebox was

  16. Sporky
    Sporky
    May 30, 2023 at 12:34 am | # | Reply

    Ruth’s inner monologue: “I miss being able to threaten violence.”

  17. Jess
    Jess
    May 30, 2023 at 12:58 am | # | Reply

    I like the way Becky’s hair obscures her mouth a little bit in panel 3. that’s a really sweet detail imo

    • Jess
      Jess
      May 30, 2023 at 12:59 am | # | Reply

      new gravatar!!!

  18. Kravis
    Kravis
    May 30, 2023 at 12:59 am | # | Reply

    A jukebox materializes from out of nowhere just so Becky can hit it and say “Hey…”

  19. AbacusWizard
    AbacusWizard
    May 30, 2023 at 1:29 am | # | Reply

    Diabolical, Becky. Utterly diabolical. Keep up the good work.

  20. Sajuuk-Khar
    Sajuuk-Khar
    May 30, 2023 at 1:41 am | # | Reply

    “Were it not for the laws of this land and my respect for the genus [i]Utahraptor[/i], Becky, I would utterly destroy you.”

    “…How d’you mean that, because—”

    “However you wish. I have a Dorothy to locate. Good day.”

    • Sajuuk-Khar
      Sajuuk-Khar
      May 30, 2023 at 1:42 am | # | Reply

      oh dammit I fucked up and bbcoded the html like an idiot. Please try not to comment on that, everyone, if you were going to. I can see the error, I have eyes.

      • Thag Simmons
        Thag Simmons
        May 30, 2023 at 2:14 am | # | Reply

        Haha, messing up the proper formatting of a binomial name in a way that makes it clear you were trying to get it right even though you didn’t do it properly. I’ve certainly never made a mistake like that

        …

        At least one of those instances was Dakotaraptor, with hindsight I was kind of vindicated there

        • milu
          milu
          May 30, 2023 at 7:30 am | # | Reply

          Oh wow, i was not aware that “Dakotaraptor (meaning “thief from Dakota”) is a potentially chimaeric[2] genus of large dromaeosaurid theropod… Elements of the holotype and referred specimens were later found to belong to trionychid turtles,[3]”

          How often are bones misattributed to a dinosaur that aren’t even archosaurian

          • Thag Simmons
            Thag Simmons
            May 30, 2023 at 1:22 pm | # | Reply

            It happened because DePalma is up to some vintage bone wars shit. Dude’s a sensationalist who’s willing to bend and fabricate evidence to create a more compelling narrative

  21. Bogeywoman
    Bogeywoman
    May 30, 2023 at 1:49 am | # | Reply

    I’m the person everyone tells secrets to. Mostly because I have sieve-type ADHD memory and will forget it as soon as my attention turns elsewhere.

  22. Pocky
    Pocky
    May 30, 2023 at 2:08 am | # | Reply

    Becky; continuing to be the best character

  23. Needfuldoer
    Needfuldoer
    May 30, 2023 at 4:06 am | # | Reply

    What? She is!

  24. Suet
    Suet
    May 30, 2023 at 5:13 am | # | Reply

    Knowing secrets about your “enemy” is like the juiciest of blackmail.

    Knowing this, however, Becky would be the weakest link in a mafia.

    • Slartibeast Button, BIA
      Slartibeast Button, BIA
      May 30, 2023 at 11:02 am | # | Reply

      She’s the one you prime with misinformation to throw the cops off the track.

  25. Sombrero
    Sombrero
    May 30, 2023 at 5:40 am | # | Reply

    No gravatars with Panel 6 Ruth?

    • Taffy
      Taffy
      May 30, 2023 at 5:56 am | # | Reply

      Who uses a gravatar, these days?

      • milu
        milu
        May 30, 2023 at 7:34 am | # | Reply

        Grindian deities
        Grames Cameron

    • Amós Batista
      Amós Batista
      May 30, 2023 at 8:03 am | # | Reply

      I prefer the yesterday face.

      • Sombrero
        Sombrero
        May 30, 2023 at 8:19 am | # | Reply

        Nice, but I thought Ruth Fry face would be an instant success.

        • Taffy
          Taffy
          May 30, 2023 at 1:57 pm | # | Reply

          Speaking only for myself, it’s a little narrow, kind of a pain to crop down. I’ve made a few custom gravs from these strips over the years, and there’s a 2-3 pixel line that has to come off the edges along with the border, so it winds up being really small or losing detail. You maybe wouldn’t think it, but that line is super important for panels that don’t show a character’s full head.

  26. Pergola
    Pergola
    May 30, 2023 at 7:19 am | # | Reply

    Great faces today.

  27. Hof1991
    Hof1991
    May 30, 2023 at 7:44 am | # | Reply

    Ruth’s transition from startled to resigned to “this shit is my life now” is sooo well done.

  28. milu
    milu
    May 30, 2023 at 7:48 am | # | Reply

    Later:
    Dorothy: Becky, did you tell Ruth that I had hirsutism, that my parents were moonies AND scientologists, that i was a north korean spy and that I killed Nelson Mandela in prison???
    Becky: i panicked okay?

  29. Furie
    Furie
    May 30, 2023 at 12:42 pm | # | Reply

    God tier expressions in the last three panels.

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