“Finally”? It’s only been like a week of time in the comic.
But yeah, the Joyce-Sarah relationship is really sweet and potentially very supportive – for the both of them. (For instance, I wonder if Sarah had even told the Grieving Pothead Roommate Saga to anyone before.)
I don’t either, but because saying it out loud makes me sound insane.
“So there was this door, but it had, like, teeth, right? And a long hallway which I think maybe I remember from this dentists office I used to go to, but now there are all these evil balloon animals in it. And Christopher Walken tried to fight them, but they set him on fire. I managed to sneak past, but by then the algebra test was over and I missed it, and everyone was coming out and laughed at me in my underwear.”
See, that’s WHY my sisters and I talk about our dreams/nightmares. It’s kind of a contest to see whose was the strangest. My sister usually wins.
kiapdx
I just listen to the weird shit my boyfriend says in his dreams.
“mumblemumble Don’t touch it Danielle… mumblemumble” He doesn’t know anyone named Danielle.
Also he once vigorously groped me in his sleep and made out with the back of my neck. When I asked what he was doing he mumbled “I thought I was helping you with your quest…” then gave a little snore. I told him he was asleep and he apologized and went back to trying to make out with the back of my neck.
Like the time I woke up from a nightmare, looked down at myself, and said, “excellent, the body is mine”. I’m pretty sure that’s more creepy without context.
If she says she relieved the assault, there’s a good chance Sarah will start hounding Joyce to get help, which Joyce knows because of what happened to Sarah’s last roommate. Given how resistant she’s been to discussing the incident at all, I doubt Joyce is eager to start down that road.
I wonder if this will mean that Joyce will avoid trying to get intimate with Ethan which allows him to stay in the glass closet for a fair while longer.
Well I think he’s being a – Swell upstanding fellow–
and if he’d ju- st keep making me smile with his wondrous comics I’ll be forever happy
-tt. and if he doesn’t like it he can k-feel free to delete it
Here it is. The first retcon. Oh of course “It was all just a dream” and now shapeshifters don’t exist in the dumbiverse anymore. It all goes downhill from here. That’s what you’re all thinking. I know better though. Clearly when “Ethan” rubbed his thing all over Joyce’s belly it was a mindwiper and she’s just forgotten the night’s events.
So then this supports the theory that Amazi-Girl is a time traveling Joe who has had Roz’s personality and memories inserted into his brain by a microchip and has been given cyber-surgery restructuring, and that Walky is a simultron created by Pseudo-Danny (from the timeline that was destroyed by Ethan’s experiments with dark matter) meant to harvest Dorothy’s ectoplasm when she morphs into Sarah-17.
Then it seems likely that Joyce is also a simultron, since she clearly is being targeted by the shapeshifters for eradication through self-decomposition, though who created her and what her ultimate goal is still unclear. Also, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the shapeshifters can’t enter this dimension completely yet and have to act through psy-proxies. As for the identity of “Ethan”, I’d say it was Sarah-12.
Of course, Willis has surprised us before, so we’ll have to wait and see what really happens.
Well pf course. It all follows quite naturally since we know that Sarah is Dana Prime. After being stabbed in the back by Joyce in her own universe she fled to the Dumbiverse and stole DumbiDana’s place on campus so that as Joyce’s roommate she could leave the door unlocked for these Shapeshifters who will give her what she needs to take her vengeance on every iteration of Joyce in the multiverse. I think you’re forgetting that Sarah’s scholarship was a deal with the devil and she has to trade her roommates in for continued educational funding. Personally I’m at the edge of my seat waiting to see how Willis reconciles these two seemingly conflicting back-stories.
I suppose I put what’s going on together a little differently; it seems much more horrifying than the last strip. We all have bad dreams. but carrying that kind of trauma around and refusing to deal with it, possibly/probably because you’ve been told you’ll be taken care of if you live ‘correctly,’ is hell yawning to take you.
Yeah, it’s that much worse when it’s not just facing something you’d rather not face, but actually the choice between getting the help you need to deal with it, and getting to stay out in the “real” world at college instead of going back home to a life she obviously doesn’t want right now. Where she won’t get any help anyways, I’m sure.
Makes it that much worse when it’s not just a choice between “Do I face this or not?” (which she obviously doesn’t want to do anyways).
There should be an option for “Why would you do this to me, Willis? Why would you go tormenting my poor, little webcomic-reading heart?” on that poll. Because there are a great variety of tumblr gifs about getting hit “right” in the “feels” that could be applied to this particular strip.
Fortunately for me, I have a heart of gold.
because you see: Gold is just a special type of metal; Metal is just a special type of stone;
So really a heart of gold is just a very special type of a heart of stone. Thus my heart can never hurt.
I really love your comic. And your entire character base from all your comics.
I’m sure I’ll like what happens next (more or less) but I can’t help but worry that Sarah is going to do the only thing she can think of to help her…. and everyone will get pissed at her again. And if Joyce is coming close to accepting she has a sexuality and gets sent home to deal with the trama…..They may brain wash her again!
……Gah! I’m starting to sound like a day time drama. Shoot me now!
Ugh, that is the worst. When you’re trying to scream in your nightmare and you can’t for whatever reason. Or when you don’t move for some reason. Brain, why you gotta pull betrayals like this?
I don’t know that I have had that happen, but I have had the paralysis wear off before I wake up a few times. (Turns out biting into your arm is a great way to wake yourself up.)
Willis your gonna make me cry. Its really painful being in that spot of wanting to help or be there someone you care about or respect, but they don’t want to open up.
Your mind just starts thinking about what you could do to help them, who else could you all. And then you think that you shouldn’t pry because prying can make things worse…
Wait… “Who else could you call…” Ohhh what a nice way to confirm without telling us that Sarah was really empathetic with her roomie last year…
Joyce is the nicest person in DoA? Generally nice, I agree, but occasional episodes of condescension when the views of others don’t align with hers puts her out of the running for ‘nicest’. And implied homophobia.
88 thoughts on “Nightmare”
David Herbert
And just like last time, Sarah shows she cares. Daww?
Sensedog
It will be good for Joyce to have the support when she finally decides to confront the problem.
Barf Ninjason
“Finally”? It’s only been like a week of time in the comic.
But yeah, the Joyce-Sarah relationship is really sweet and potentially very supportive – for the both of them. (For instance, I wonder if Sarah had even told the Grieving Pothead Roommate Saga to anyone before.)
Yotomoe
Sarah’s her big sister forever.
Scoot
Don’t hold back the feelings!
Jen Aside
I don’t really like talking about my nightmares, either. Makes me remember them =/
Doctor_Who
I don’t either, but because saying it out loud makes me sound insane.
“So there was this door, but it had, like, teeth, right? And a long hallway which I think maybe I remember from this dentists office I used to go to, but now there are all these evil balloon animals in it. And Christopher Walken tried to fight them, but they set him on fire. I managed to sneak past, but by then the algebra test was over and I missed it, and everyone was coming out and laughed at me in my underwear.”
Chug
See, that’s WHY my sisters and I talk about our dreams/nightmares. It’s kind of a contest to see whose was the strangest. My sister usually wins.
kiapdx
I just listen to the weird shit my boyfriend says in his dreams.
“mumblemumble Don’t touch it Danielle… mumblemumble” He doesn’t know anyone named Danielle.
Also he once vigorously groped me in his sleep and made out with the back of my neck. When I asked what he was doing he mumbled “I thought I was helping you with your quest…” then gave a little snore. I told him he was asleep and he apologized and went back to trying to make out with the back of my neck.
fatemaster1
Normal is overrated and sanity is boring.
Zap Rowsdower
Sometimes, not remembering makes it worse.
Like the time I woke up from a nightmare, looked down at myself, and said, “excellent, the body is mine”. I’m pretty sure that’s more creepy without context.
randompersyn
You do not know how hard that made me laugh. (No, not at you. At the randomness?)
poofdepoof
I like talking about my nightmares, because when I wake up I know they’re all fake and they do seem like fascinating stories to me.
Matt
I hope every book ends at sleepytime in Joyce and Sarah’s room
Leon
Hard to tell the actual reason Joyce won’t talk about her nightmare.
begbert2
It’s easy to tell. She’s embarrassed about the sex dream part of it. Note the blush.
Raoullefere
If she says she relieved the assault, there’s a good chance Sarah will start hounding Joyce to get help, which Joyce knows because of what happened to Sarah’s last roommate. Given how resistant she’s been to discussing the incident at all, I doubt Joyce is eager to start down that road.
Raoullefere
reLIVED. Dammit.
Plasma Mongoose
My dreams are nighmare fuel for other people.
fatemaster1
My nightmares are all a cross between Sci Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Films.
Kschenke
Oh Joyce… it’s hard to remember that it really hasn’t been that long story-wise since the assault.
Yotomoe
Even if it had been years I think it’d be justified for her to be having nightmares about it.
Raoullefere
And attempting not to deal with the experience won’t help, either. Your brain’s going to work with memories that strong whether you like it or not.
Aydr
It’s true. That kind of thing will stick with someone… especially when handled as unhealthily as it really was.
NCP19
I think I can sympathize with Joyce on this one. Let’s not speak of this for a long time…
Sporky
Sarah wants to be Joyce’s mom so bad
Regalli
Awww, Joyce.
Plasma Mongoose
I wonder if this will mean that Joyce will avoid trying to get intimate with Ethan which allows him to stay in the glass closet for a fair while longer.
Yotomoe
Glass Closet is an amazing metaphor. The meta-fourth best metaphor I’ve ever heard.
Plasma Mongoose
I checked TVTropes and it seems they have a trope called the Transparent Closet which is the same idea as my Glass Closet.
Yotomoe
You should opt to rename it glass closet. It sounds way better :2.
Vabolo
I second this motion!
And afterwards, perhaps there’ll be a TVTropes page about the “Great Glass Elegaytor”?
Khrene
There is, but it’s about an Elevator for Elegant Alligatos
Andrusi
The Great Glass Alligator?
Yotomoe
Well I think he’s being a –
Swell upstanding fellow–
and if he’d ju-
st keep making me smile with his wondrous comics I’ll be forever happy
-tt. and if he doesn’t like it he can k-feel free to delete it
Reiku
how are you replying in the future O.o
Tenn
Is there a hidden message there somewhere?
Tenn
And that was a reply to Yotomoe. Is it Display Comments In Wrong Order Day already?
(This comment will of course be meaningless once DCIWOD is over.)
gangler
Here it is. The first retcon. Oh of course “It was all just a dream” and now shapeshifters don’t exist in the dumbiverse anymore. It all goes downhill from here. That’s what you’re all thinking. I know better though. Clearly when “Ethan” rubbed his thing all over Joyce’s belly it was a mindwiper and she’s just forgotten the night’s events.
Squidiggles
So then this supports the theory that Amazi-Girl is a time traveling Joe who has had Roz’s personality and memories inserted into his brain by a microchip and has been given cyber-surgery restructuring, and that Walky is a simultron created by Pseudo-Danny (from the timeline that was destroyed by Ethan’s experiments with dark matter) meant to harvest Dorothy’s ectoplasm when she morphs into Sarah-17.
Then it seems likely that Joyce is also a simultron, since she clearly is being targeted by the shapeshifters for eradication through self-decomposition, though who created her and what her ultimate goal is still unclear. Also, it’s becoming more and more apparent that the shapeshifters can’t enter this dimension completely yet and have to act through psy-proxies. As for the identity of “Ethan”, I’d say it was Sarah-12.
Of course, Willis has surprised us before, so we’ll have to wait and see what really happens.
gangler
Well pf course. It all follows quite naturally since we know that Sarah is Dana Prime. After being stabbed in the back by Joyce in her own universe she fled to the Dumbiverse and stole DumbiDana’s place on campus so that as Joyce’s roommate she could leave the door unlocked for these Shapeshifters who will give her what she needs to take her vengeance on every iteration of Joyce in the multiverse. I think you’re forgetting that Sarah’s scholarship was a deal with the devil and she has to trade her roommates in for continued educational funding. Personally I’m at the edge of my seat waiting to see how Willis reconciles these two seemingly conflicting back-stories.
Historyman68
I love you guys
Tom Speelman
For a second, I thought today’s strip would be horrifying. Instead, it’s just sad.
Raoullefere
I suppose I put what’s going on together a little differently; it seems much more horrifying than the last strip. We all have bad dreams. but carrying that kind of trauma around and refusing to deal with it, possibly/probably because you’ve been told you’ll be taken care of if you live ‘correctly,’ is hell yawning to take you.
Kryss LaBryn
Yeah, it’s that much worse when it’s not just facing something you’d rather not face, but actually the choice between getting the help you need to deal with it, and getting to stay out in the “real” world at college instead of going back home to a life she obviously doesn’t want right now. Where she won’t get any help anyways, I’m sure.
Makes it that much worse when it’s not just a choice between “Do I face this or not?” (which she obviously doesn’t want to do anyways).
ridureyu
ETA until Joyce starts stabbing people?
begbert2
Are we not counting that business with the glass?
begbert2
-That fully justified business. I just realized that I sounded critical of Joyce’s action there, and that is NOT what I meant to do.
fatemaster1
No, we’re talking about her going on a psychopathic rampage, not justified stabbings.
Vabolo
There should be an option for “Why would you do this to me, Willis? Why would you go tormenting my poor, little webcomic-reading heart?” on that poll. Because there are a great variety of tumblr gifs about getting hit “right” in the “feels” that could be applied to this particular strip.
Kernanator
Ouch, my heart. 🙁
fatemaster1
Fortunately for me, I have a heart of gold.
because you see:
Gold is just a special type of metal;
Metal is just a special type of stone;
So really a heart of gold is just a very special type of a heart of stone.
Thus my heart can never hurt.Felix Featherstone
I really love your comic. And your entire character base from all your comics.
I’m sure I’ll like what happens next (more or less) but I can’t help but worry that Sarah is going to do the only thing she can think of to help her…. and everyone will get pissed at her again. And if Joyce is coming close to accepting she has a sexuality and gets sent home to deal with the trama…..They may brain wash her again!
……Gah! I’m starting to sound like a day time drama. Shoot me now!
Uniqueantique
Aww. Sarah knows and dosn’t know what to do about it. Poor Joyce.
Jackson
No kidding. Once again, I has a sad.
shoeboxjeddy
Ugh, that is the worst. When you’re trying to scream in your nightmare and you can’t for whatever reason. Or when you don’t move for some reason. Brain, why you gotta pull betrayals like this?
Jim
The reason is so you don’t end up flaying around and hurt yourself. It’s actually a pretty sophisticated neural LACK of response.
btw… WHERE WERE HER HANDS UNTIL THAT LAST PANEL YESTERDAY!?
Still don’t see ‘em!!
Darkflame
I have only had it twice, but when you wake up before your (normal) paralysis does its as scary as hell.
Fen_Star
I don’t know that I have had that happen, but I have had the paralysis wear off before I wake up a few times. (Turns out biting into your arm is a great way to wake yourself up.)
Roborat
Yea, happened to me once as a kid, scared the crap out of me.
Andiemus
I had a roommate that did that.
begbert2
Hahaha funny comic!
No, wait. The other thing.
begbert2
Also: total consensus on the poll! What are the odds of that?
Khrene
Willis your gonna make me cry. Its really painful being in that spot of wanting to help or be there someone you care about or respect, but they don’t want to open up.
Your mind just starts thinking about what you could do to help them, who else could you all. And then you think that you shouldn’t pry because prying can make things worse…
Wait… “Who else could you call…” Ohhh what a nice way to confirm without telling us that Sarah was really empathetic with her roomie last year…
Why am I feeling empathy for these characters!… Are you getting paid for this? You should be getting paid for this… I wish I had more money to pay you for this.
Reiku
interesting how the nicest person in DOA is having a nightmare, yet the bongoiest one in Shortpack’d is having a Dream
Plasma Mongoose
A dream where she wakes up as a fatass.
Zababcd
Joyce is the nicest person in DoA? Generally nice, I agree, but occasional episodes of condescension when the views of others don’t align with hers puts her out of the running for ‘nicest’. And implied homophobia.
begbert2
And occasional bouts of beating the shit out of people. Mustn’t forget that little incident.
I’d say that Danny is probably the nicest person in DoA.
taekwondogirl
I don’t think Malaya’s dreaming.
NinjaNick