217

Out of your way
Posted on September 24, 2016 by David M Willis

217 thoughts on “Out of your way”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    *tugging shirt collar* “Amber, I want you to know that I… have always… wanted… you…”

    “Yes?”

    “…to tell me who does your hair.”

    “whut”

    “Or, Amazi-Girl’s hair, rather.”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      “AMAZI-GIRL DOES NOT SHARE HER SECRETS”

      1. butts

        They already have pretty much the same hair, though.

        1. Orion Fury

          It’s like they’ve blocked out the palette swap comment or something.

        2. Needfuldoer

          But how else are we supposed to have multiple Amazi-Girls in the fighting game?

      2. Kris

        Amber doesn’t share her secrets either.

      3. Sam

        “AMAZI-GIRL DOES NOT SHARE HAIR SECRETS”

    2. Jerach

      Seems like an odd question considering they have the same hair.

      1. Brotato

        Yeah, but Amazi-Girl has a different style. Dorothy wants to know how to get her hair to do that… swish.

    3. TheAnonymousGuy

      A dramatic moment always needs this – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1Y73sPHKxw

  2. AnvilPro

    “Do you know anything about a ‘Jessica’?”

    1. Cholma

      “… Rabbit? Sure, but she’s not bad; she’s just drawn that way, so A-G doesn’t need to know about her.”

      1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

        She is just an unimportant background figure.

        1. Stu

          Is it just me, or does that gravatar look like she’s pointing at her cleavage?
          “Pay no attention to the face behind the sign! All you need to see is before you!”

        2. ety

          I think so too and said as much on the last comic 😛

        3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

          Yeah it worked out that way.

        4. LookingIn

          Perfect gravatar for your comment!

        5. Deanatay

          With a figure like that? NEVER unimportant.

  3. MatthewTheLucky

    Clone fight!

    1. Ana Chronistic

      you mean MIRROR MATCH

      palette swaps

      Player 2 colours

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        Nah, they have vastly different stats, so it’s not a true mirror match.

      2. butts

        Mario vs Luigi

        Ryu vs Ken

        Poison vs Roxy

        Deadpool vs Deathstroke

        1. Cholma

          Roxy Vs Ramona, with Danny standing in as Scott Pilgrim?

        2. Orion Fury

          While Danny’s getting popular, that comparison may be a bit much for some.

        3. Cholma

          Actually, since Danny has dated BOTH Dorothy & Amber (kind of), Amber having to fight his “evil ex” like in the movie, works perfectly. (although Danny would have to take the Ramona role, and Amber the Scott role)

        4. Lan

          Really? I think we could just let Danny be Mr Pilgrim and stay as a head-in-a-bag.

        5. a snow ʍousɐ

          But it’s evil EXES, aka AG and Dorothy, so Ethan has to be Scott

        6. Amazi-Stool

          The Exes of Evil?

        7. ety

          Mm, but it could be that Dorothy needs to fight Ethan and Danny.

        8. MatthewTheLucky

          Well, exes of something.

        9. SgtWadeyWilson

          I can take the old man! Even Death Battle agrees!

      3. Dara

        now now, perfectly symmetrical violence never solves anything

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          That’s why you use an item.

        2. Orion Fury

          But not a box. Well, that box over there.

    2. Doctor_Who

      It’s like in Mortal Kombat, where all the ninjas were just palette swaps.

      1. SgtWadeyWilson

        And then they grew into complex characters!

        Did I say complex? I meant convoluted.

  4. butts

    “this compartmentalization between us”
    oh dorothy

    1. Fart Captor

      I don’t see what you’re on about, she’s clearly just using the royal “we” there.

  5. Mr. Mendo

    Where could this be going, I wonder?

    1. pjeseb

      Probably not where the yuri shippers are hoping it will.

      1. butts

        IT COULD STILL HAPPEN

        YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH

        1. DarkoNeko

          Yesh, about as likely as Marteen & Faye.

          …
          *go sob in a corner*

        2. Fart Captor

          If Jacques broke up Marten and Claire, I’d have to set up a twitter bot just to automate the process of sending him all the pictures of me scowling at him

        3. ety

          I’ll help with that… or help set up several.

        4. Needfuldoer

          Surely this is why QC doesn’t have a comments section.

        5. Norah

          It has a forum though.

        6. Mr. Random

          The only comments I’m exposed to from QC are the Turkey comics.
          And I feel those might be a Liiiittle exaggerated.

        7. Ntrovert

          The Daily Dopeslap ight be more appropriate. That ship may ovcasionally run into heavy seas, but it had better be unsinkable or there will be the Devil to pay and no pitch hot…

      2. Orion Fury

        Can shippers truly ever be satisfied? The buildup between the characters can be so much as to any relationship that actual may form will most likely not me the expectations there of.

        1. SgtWadeyWilson

          Just like Star Wars! Wait… that joke doesn’t entirely work anymore. Stupid successful sequel!

    2. Nicster216

      Hopefully she convinces amber to get back with danny

      1. Najaru

        “Hopefully”? I’d say it was best for Danny he left that relationship. It had started to slowly veer a little bit towards “abusive”.

        1. Mr. Mendo

          Yeah, I’m still pulling for Danny/Billie, myself. Call me nostalgic if’n you must. 😉

        2. -Sentinel-

          I’m hoping Danny/Sal is an option.

          I know Sal can do MUCH better than Danny, but… Danny reminds me of myself, and I’ve had an unhealthy obsession with Sal since the days of It’s Walky!.

          Billie’s still pretty great, though.

        3. JessWitt

          No one else here dreaming of an EthDan ship?

        4. Orion Fury

          I think the Ship that’s been God denied bring up painful memories for them.

        5. trlkly

          Nah, it’s just that they don’t want to hurt Amber. If she were to be okay with it, they’d be getting it on last week.

        6. Chaucer59

          Oh Hellz yes. Danny couldn’t telegraph his desire for Ethan more if he drooled at the sight of him—which I expect every time they see one another. Ethan might take some coaching, but few things are as attractive as someone fm who finds you alluring.

        7. Spencer

          I mean, he bluntly stated his desire for Ethan directly to his face. He’s cool with it now unlike how he was previously trying to find him a boyfriend because otherwise he thought he was doomed to cheat on Amber. He’s bi, he knows it, and he owns it.

          Ethan, I think, is absolutely going to jump on the opportunity when he gets the chance. Danny basically is a perfect partner for him at the moment. They’re both in the same space for trying to figure out their sexualities and already knowing one another boundaries.

          Hopefully Mike doesn’t ruin things too much and their cute flirting gets to continue unabated until they recognize they deserve to give each other a shot.

        8. Spencer

          With the way Walky/Dorothy and Billie/Ruth have worked out here it is kind of funny that the premier sunk ship of the Walkyverse wasn’t resurrected.

          Although maybe it’s for the best that we all forgot that Sal spent ten years obsessing over Danny’s mullet.

        9. Spencer

          God forbid we have anything as vile as a traumatized, mentally ill abuse victim reconciling with a partner who sincerely loves her and wants the best for her.

    3. Dr. T

      There have been some interesting things posted about AG’s possible identity online, I bet. That surely had to be the point of Ryan grabbing her phone.

      1. trlkly

        It’s not impossible, but there’s still the question of why he wouldn’t have used that as leverage against her when he saw her again. Even just shouting her name to distract her.

        Plus I think Dorothy would be in full on panic mode if that were the case.

        I’m not saying that Ryan didn’t get some information, but I don’t think it was immediately actionable. Or, if it was, he’s keeping it to himself to handle it personally.

      2. trlkly

        Oh, and Amber has already been online. I’d definitely look at the news of last night (in some ultra secure browser).

        1. ety

          “In some ultra secure browser”

          like tor! So I can directly broadcast to the NSA that I’m doing something fishy!

        2. trlkly

          The NSA wouldn’t be interested in her looking at news.

          But Tor was not what I was thinking of. Just a browser isolated from everything else, using a proxy, and in incognito mode.

        3. trlkly

          in a VM.

        4. ety

          To be honest I don’t even really see why it would have to be a secure browser or isolated from everything else to begin with.

    4. Idontcarenomore

      Perhaps to why AG sent her a photo of a scared face man?

      1. Carolyn

        Dorothy knows who Ryan is. She was there the night Joyce was attacked and was involved in the discussion on what to do afterwards. The reason AG sent her the photo in the first place was so Dorothy could confirm it was the same fuckboy who drugged Joyce.

        1. thejeff

          She may well want to know what happened though.

  6. miados

    “I respect that you feel more comfortable talking when dressed up but could we please talk now anyway?”

    i think her way of saying it is nicer than mine.

    1. butts

      “in fact, maybe you should just get totally undressed”

      1. miados

        I’m not sure how undressing will help make a conversation happen beyond “you’re under arrest for indecent exposure”

        1. Orion Fury

          Well they are in their bathroom, not a public space. Perhaps it’s a variant on that whole “Picture the crowd in their underwear to loosen up’ thing. That and well, mailing.

        2. miados

          i would spend to much time trying to figure out clothing styles based on the outer layer and the likely hood of various levels of cleanliness for it to relaly be useful of me to imagine.

        3. nothri

          You! Stop ruining this plan with your insufferable logic, dammit!

      2. DaveM

        “Oh, and that music in the background with the wha-wha and the slap bass? It’s just research for a project I’m doing on 1970’s musical trends in film genres”

  7. Kris

    Amazi-girl prefers to keep her work life and personal life seperate. You could say they’re two completely different people.

    1. inqntrol

      Like Jekyll and Hide. Well, except the fact that Hyde is an evil guy.

      1. Orion Fury

        He was just trying to study.

  8. MightionNY

    “You… you…. forgot to add me as a friend on Facebook so I can share that picture.”

  9. Proxy

    Well nothing about that is at all worrying…..

    1. Fart Captor

      It’s a huge relief for me, actually. Both because Dorothy absolutely needs to be warned about how Ryan got into Amber’s phone and is still around somewhere, and because Amber talking to anyone about what she’s been going through, even a little bit would be huge.

  10. Train Moblin

    “Dorothy you do realize the Amazi-Girl costume gives me plus 10 Charisma I’m a social wreck when I don’t have it on.”

    1. gkheyf

      …where do they sell those again??

      1. nothri

        They don’t. You have to design the costume yourself.

    2. Orion Fury

      “You know they make less obvious items that give a bonus to that, right?

      1. ety

        “Like these Glasses of Charisma +10”

        1. ety

          Spectacles of Suave?
          Bifocals of Bewitching?
          Glasses of Glib?
          Eyewear of Eloquence?
          hm…

        2. Anorak

          do you mind if i use these as easter eggs in a game i am making?

        3. ety

          I don’t mind at all. Though I am curious as all hell.

        4. miados

          ive been thinking of getting a worry hat.

        5. ety

          Hannelore!

        6. ety

          I may or may not get excited everytime I think I recognize a reference.

      2. DarkoNeko

        Beer ?

        1. Orion Fury

          But that requires someone else to take it. Well, normally.

  11. Stephen R. Bierce

    *plays Fleetwood Mac’s “Monday Morning” on the hacked Muzak*

  12. AngelBadman

    Someone is finally having “the talk” with Amber.

    1. Dressing up as, and becoming, a vigilante is a bit weird
    2. Guys are gay or not, dating you has nothing to do with it
    3. Mask on

    1. rachel

      or bi! I believe it’s actually #bivisibilityday in fact. lots of bi people in this comic!

    2. Idontcarenomore

      OR she is wanting to know why AG sent her a shot of a scared face man.

      1. Fart Captor

        The whole reason AG sent it to Dorothy was so she could confirm that it was the guy who attacked Joyce, so Dorothy at least knows that much.

        She definitely wants to know what happened after AG spotted him, though.

      2. Clif

        She’s definately wanting to talk about Ryan, not the superhero lifestyle choice.

    3. Orion Fury

      So it’s not 4. One more spider?

  13. Vex Godglove

    All Dorothy sees is the cool superheroics, she doesn’t see the pain and illness that drives it.

    1. JessWitt

      She doesn’t read enough comics then.

      1. gkheyf

        Heresy!!!

    2. Idontcarenomore

      Dorothy held back a story on AG because she did see her pain I think.

      1. Vex Godglove

        I thought it was because she believes AG plays an important role in their community and reporting what she knew would have ended that.

        1. Fart Captor

          It also could have had serious consequences for Amber. I think empathy was definitely a part of it.

  14. bryy

    Amber is being forced to confront ALL of her bullshit this arc, isn’t she?

    But yeah. Dorothy, I think, is in for some huge revelations about her hero.

    1. butts

      Next strip, Amber runs out of the bathroom to find Blaine and Faz sneaking in through the window

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        Then, Mike has sex with Ethan and Danny in her bed. Wait, shit, he might actually do that.

        1. Orion Fury

          I think he’s more a slow burn there though, take pictures and such, leave an out of focus one for her to find, slowly ramp up from there with off hand comments, perhaps arrange for Amber to see him with one of them (or both) in a not completely platonic way.

          I swear I just made that all up on the spot.

        2. ety

          It’s amazing what a little bit of an interest in magic will do for you.

        3. Orion Fury

          What are you talking about, ‘little’?

        4. ety

          ‘Little’ as in I can barely do any of it anymore, which I suppose is what I get for preferring sleight-of-hand to general trickery. That and, you know, I haven’t actually read revelations.

        5. ety

          And I was never great at it anyway 😛

        6. Orion Fury

          Typically better at the metaphysical stuff than the regular stuff, myself.

        7. Emily

          Why would anyone in their right mind have sex with Mike?

        8. Spencer

          If Mike’s plan to seduce Ethan actually pans out I could see it be over Ethan’s fears that he’ll always be alone. That he has to settle for Mike because otherwise he’ll never be able to find someone.

          Then again, turning Mike into an actual sex predator might be too dark for his character. That and it presumes that Mike in this series is anything but some stupid edgelord douchebag.

    2. gkheyf

      Yeah, or further misunderstandings make danny appear to be the bad guy…nah, willis doesn’t usually go for that kind of stuff
      …?

  15. -Sentinel-

    I love Dorothy so much.

    No particular reason why I’m saying this today, it’s not relevant to the strip. I just had a burst of fondness for her.

    1. JessWitt

      She’s like a ray of sunshine, because she’s blond and stuff.

      1. DarkoNeko

        Hopefully Becky doesn’t call her an Hitler youth too…

        1. Fart Captor

          Considering Dorothy is part Jewish, that would probably not go over well at all.

          Luckily, I think Becky is well over that initial bout of jealousy over who was Joyce’s best friend (its Becky, obv.), so that’s probably not something we need to worry about.

        2. thejeff

          And it wouldn’t happen anyway, since despite the jealousy, Dorothy doesn’t trigger the kind of panic that puts Becky in that state. With Dorothy, at college, she’s not in the bigoted small town where the safe assumption is that everyone is out to get you.

        3. Fart Captor

          That’s definitely the reason much more than what I said.

          When I first read it, I’d assumed that the Nazi comment had just been playful ribbing that accidentally got a bit inappropriate, but I hadn’t really thought about it since, in light of more recent events.

          In hindsight, it’s pretty clear that she was covering how anxious and tense she was feeling at the time. Not only did she not want to be there, with all the bigots and triggery memories, but she almost certainly came along to keep an eye on Joyce, and not just as moral support.

    2. Jess

      Same. I have no idea why this comic has reminded me how much I love Dorothy, only that it has and that I am glad of it.

    3. Fart Captor

      She’s here because she wants to know what happened with Ryan, and whether there’s anything that Joyce needs to be warned about and/or shielded from, and in the process may end up coaxing Amber into a conversation that she desperately needs to have. And she’s doing it with boss-tier sensitivity and empathy.

      Somebody needs to build a machine to make Dorothy a real person so I can hug her.

      1. Idontcarenomore

        I’m not sure that Dorothy was ever in on the attempted rape. Joyce didn’t want it known to any authorities, and Dorothy’s on the school paper. She may have reported it.

        1. Fart Captor

          She was there at the party and for the discussion about whether to file a report.

        2. Disloyal Subject

          Sometimes I wonder if we’re reading the same comic.
          Joyce was only even at the party as Dorothy’s +1 to fulfill Roz’s demands.

        3. Clif

          I frequently have that same experience.

        4. shammers

          uhhhh the entire reason they went after him was because AG sent her a picture to confirm if it was him???

    4. shammers

      it’s a sign of good writing. very subtle. very evocative. i feel many others had the same reaction

      for me, it was the fifth panel. idk why, but the wording just made me smile. that and her expression in the 6th panel

      maybe it was the fact that the last few weeks have been about this horrid spiral of hatred for oneself and for society and maybe a specific person? suddenly we have good ole dorothy just being forthcoming and very eloquent

  16. JepMZ

    I can’t remember if Dorothy figured out who she is on her own or was told already or not

    1. Karin

      Found out. x3 It was a fun time for both.

    2. Fart Captor

      She did back in book 4, after she and Walky chased her around a bit:

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2014/comic/book-4/02-i-was-a-teenage-churchmouse/gotcha/

      1. JepMZ

        Oh yeeeeeehhhhH, that’s right. Thanks

  17. rachel

    this strip is actually making me cry?????? how

    1. shammers

      maybe with all the tense standoffs and societal undertones, it’s just really nice to see someone being warm?

  18. Victor Riley

    I’m wondering if Dorothy is going to ask her to back off Ryan, for Joyce. Because if/when Joyce hears about this, it’s going to bring up some flashbacks, and she will have to relive it all over again. So she might want to just try and forget about it… which is understandable. (Maybe not the healthiest choice… but it might be her choice nonetheless)

    I hope not… because Ryan is scum, and he might (probably) do it to someone else.

    1. Jason

      But Joyce begged AG to find and catch Ryan, so I’m not sure AG would even listen.

    2. Idontcarenomore

      I really don’t think she would do that because she is Dorothy, and I don’t think she know about the attempted rape.

      1. Fart Captor

        Dorothy was the one who invited Joyce to the party, and was there with her after the attack:

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/allergies/

      2. dralou

        She’s also the one who confirmed that that guy with a gash on his face was indeed the one AG was looking for. Pretty sure Dorothy knows why.

  19. fogel

    A very well done sequence of faces, too.

  20. ety

    I don’t even know what to say about this anymore.

  21. Shiro

    So, battle planning with Dorothy?

  22. Foxhack

    AG sent Dorothy the photo, didn’t she?

    1. Jason

      Yep. The first one, the one from far away.

  23. gkheyf

    No, dotty! You broke the coooode! Only awkwardly vague statements and unproductive fangirling allowed

  24. Jason

    Dorothy’s whispering made me wonder if Sierra has any idea about Amber being AG. I mean, I’m sure there’s been no hint of it, but Willis may suddenly reveal that Sierra’s known all along, just as he did with Dina. (In fact I wonder if this has anything to do with that Sierra preview panel….)

  25. MarMar

    If she doesn’t freak out on Dorothy like she did on Danny then I call bullshit.

    1. Fart Captor

      She freaked out at Danny because he suggested she needed to stop being Amazi-Girl, right after she’d seen him hanging out with Sal, who she still saw as her arch-enemy at the time.

      So far there is nothing similar happening with Dorothy, nor is she even at all close enough to Dorothy that she could really feel that betrayed by something she did, unless she suddenly decided to reveal AG’s identity. On top of that, things between AG and Sal have significantly changed since then.

      1. Spencer

        This. We don’t know what Danny means to Amber right now, but at the time it felt like a massive betrayal of trust, and her ability to fully, completely trust him and believe him was part of why she was into him in the first place.

        That wasn’t just a conversation that went south. That was Amber suddenly walking in on Danny and Sal together, whereupon Danny tells her she needs to stop being Amazi-Girl because Sal says so.

        1. Clif

          This!!!

        2. thejeff

          Also and maybe more psychologically important – he told the Amazi-Girl alter that she needed to go away in favor of the Amber one. That’s not a good way to handle DID. “You need to stop existing.”

          No surprise Amazi-Girl reacted strongly. That’s a direct attack on her.

    2. Idontcarenomore

      Why should she. Amber doesn’t like talking about her ‘other self’. But, she did send the shot of Ryan to Dorothy’s phone. She has to realize that Dorothy is going to want to know why?

  26. LazarusLong

    Amber needs a confrontation about her own”compart-mental-ization. being Aamzi-Girl is NOT a healthy or safe way for her to deal with her anger issues. and Even Amazi-Girl is starting to see this although Amber may not.

    1. Orion Fury

      Hence my thoughts on AG being the primary, but I’ve been told that they can both be alters, so then I think for reintegration to occur, both would need to be on board. Assuming that there’s no Amazi-Grey hanging around as well.

      1. Clif

        Or perhaps the simplest explanation is best.

        1. Orion Fury

          Simple, please. What comment section are you reading?

          Seriously, which one? That sounds nice.

  27. Woobie

    FAAAACEs

  28. Bagge

    I LOVE Dorothy’s smiles in the third and sixth panel.

  29. Idontcarenomore

    Dorothy catching her in the bathroom makes sense. She really doesn’t know when or where to catch AG, but she knows Amber.
    I’m pretty sure she wants to know why AG sent her a photo of a scarred face man in the middle of the night.

    I don’t think that Dorothy knows anything about Joyce’s almost rape. Joyce wanted it kept as secret as possible and Dorothy was/is on the school paper.

    Dorothy would not recognize Ryan then. Unless she was at the party that night and I don’t remember that, I think she’d have reported the assalt if she was, and she’s not a party girl, so it would be out of character to find her there. (I’m too lazy to look up the archive).

    1. Orion Fury

      I’ll that this one FC. Dorothy was at the party. She brought Joyce. Arguable, if she was any closer to Joyce been attacked and almost raped, she would have been the victim instead.

    2. horrorshow88

      She went to the party so she could get an interview which Roz after her sex tape came out. Roz set that as a condition of her interview. I don’t remember why Joyce tagged along. Moral support maybe?

      1. Fart Captor

        Basically:
        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/idea/

      2. trlkly

        Joyce tagged along because Dorothy was required to bring a friend in order to get the interview with Roz. Dorothy told Joyce about it first (or Joyce possibly overheard–it’s unclear), and Joyce volunteered to be that friend.

        Later on, Billie also volunteered herself, making Joyce redundant, but then Sarah told Joyce she couldn’t go because it was too dangerous, and Joyce put her foot down, saying Sarah was always wrong.

        Of course, that time Sarah was right.

        1. DarkoNeko

          Face !

  30. Orion Fury

    I’ll that this one FC. Dorothy was at the party. She brought Joyce. Arguable, if she was any closer to Joyce been attacked and almost raped, she would have been the victim instead.

    1. Orion Fury

      That’s what I get for refreshing to see if the comment had been made yet.

  31. Morrison

    Can we get a bigger version of the last panel? For the cute.

    1. Clif

      Seconded.

  32. Charles Phipps

    Amber: “No.”

  33. Keulan

    I love Dorothy’s faces in today’s strip, they’re great.

  34. Charles Phipps

    Dorothy should be careful. Amazi-Girl is bound by the structures of Lawful Good to Lawful Neutral.

    Amber is pure Neutral Evil.

    1. Orion Fury

      I don’t think she’s seen her fanfics, yet, so she doesn’t know.

    2. Spencer

      I still don’t get how you figure that.

      “Amber is definitely as shitty and broken as she always knew she was” doesn’t exactly seem like what we’re aiming at here.

      1. Orion Fury

        From what I’ve seen, every reader has a character that they despise, that any faults they are are irredeemable. Every reader also has a character that they love, and any faults they have are great stories for growth. When this overlaps, there tends to be…strife in the comments. Sometimes productive and informative, other times…not.

        Sometimes, it’s best to just agree to disagree, lest a whole thread be deleted for having devolved into personal attacks. Not saying that’s happening here, mind you. Just commenting on something I’ve seen.

  35. trlkly

    So I guess other people don’t go back and read the comic when they aren’t sure about something, so they don’t wind up saying something embarrassing?

    Anyways, I agree she’s just going to ask her about the picture last night and ask what happened. And perhaps discuss doing something with the picture.

    Though she may also be aware of news of what happened at the rally. People will have mentioned it on social media by now, and possibly include photos.

    1. ety

      I usually do that too.

      1. ety

        I have a hard time imagining not wanting to do that.

    2. Liliet

      I generally just read the comments, counting on other people having already done the job 9_9

    3. Orion Fury

      I’ll leave that answer for the philosophers!

    4. Fart Captor

      I don’ think there’s really any need for anyone to be embarrassed, actually.

      Not everyone is equally inclined to obsess over or remember every detail. And there’s plenty of readers who are younger or for whom English isn’t their first language, or they just don’t have the best memory. It happens.

      1. ety

        Agreed “embarrassing” is likely a bit of a stretch.

      2. trlkly

        Embarrassing is not a stretch at all. It doesn’t take any level of obsession to check your facts before making a claim. When you make a definitive claim, and you are wrong in a way that you could have easily fixed, it is embarrassing. People can and will mock you for it, as happened above.

        Getting something wrong when it was easy to get right should embarrass you. It questions your integrity and/or intelligence.

        And, well, it’s a huge part of a bigger problem, where people apply the same attitude to facts in general. It’s considered an “obsession” to do basic fact checking.

        If you don’t have time to check, then you avoid making the claim. You say something like “Did Dorothy actually see the rape? I can’t remember.”

        1. Fart Captor

          While I agree those are good habits and I don’t entirely disagree with you, the fact that mockery is likely doesn’t make it right. It’s entirely possible to correct people without being mean to them, and to make suggestions with out basically saying “you’re stupid and you should feel bad”.

          We’re discussing the plot of a web comic here. If you’re going to be wrong about something, it’s a pretty safe subject to be wrong about. It’s not like anybody is going to get hurt

  36. BenRG

    Dorothy, I don’t think that you could possibly understand what a difficult request you’ve just made to Amber.

  37. Dana

    Why is no one commenting on the true issue here? That’s not how you squeeze a toothpaste tube!

    1. Clif

      Of course it is. You always start by squeezing the middle and only after it stops working do you go back and restart at the bottom and roll up. I thought everyone knew that.

      1. Woobie

        Just as everyone knows how to leave the toilet seat!

        1. Willoughby Chase

          By standing up …

          I’m here all week

          *boo*

      2. Orion Fury

        Some people just can’t be taught, I suppose.

  38. Reltzik

    “Yes! Let us have an awkward and unspokenly off-limits conversation at the exact moment your mouth is full of harsh alkaline chemicals and a brush. That is the PERFECT TIME.”

    1. Yourpartnerinscience

      Toothpaste is hardly a “harsh” chemical. It’s actually very mild.

      1. Orion Fury

        Try getting it in your eyes. Though that’s true of most things when that happens.

      2. Drakkin the Alien

        oh the youngsters!!… when i was a little boy, you had to brush your teeth until the burning in the gums was umbeareable !! and later in life, when the pimples happened you would cauterize your skin with a touch of toothpaste. What you massage your teeth with these days is a sweet soft paste i do agree.

  39. MortartarSaws

    And now she completely regrets opting for “Amber Time”…

  40. Vulcanodon

    Got to be a lot of people talking about what went down at the rally last night. Dorothy may already be privy to some of it. AG may not know it, but she needs a press agent. Not that a reporter is supposed to play that role, though other superheroes have had reporters that did.

    1. fogel

      IRL there have been journos who became spokespeople, even at the White House

  41. Paul1963

    OK, nobody has gone here yet:
    Maybe Ryan redialed the last number/message and threatened Dorothy before deleting the photo.

    1. Vulcanodon

      Good strategy; threaten the friend of a superhero after watching them beat the crap out of your friends. (But so far no one has accused Ryan of being bright)

      1. Vulcanodon

        Of course journalists are not to be trifled with either. As the saying goes, “Never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel”.

      2. BenRG

        Think about the number of time comic book antagonists come back despite being repeatedly humiliated thinking that this time they’ve got a foolproof plan. Will Ryan become Amazi-Girl and Sal’s Team Rocket?

        1. Vulcanodon

          Ooh! Then we could watch him get the crap beat out of him over and over and over…

        2. Orion Fury

          and over and over and over…

          Though his appearances are not really good for some of the readers.

        3. Commodore Jeep-Eep

          The trouble being what he might do to retaliate. He’s probably already hunting off campus to find someone to vent his spleen on after last night.

        4. Orion Fury

          ‘Vent his spleen on’?

        5. PedantryBot

          http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/vent+spleen

        6. Orion Fury

          Ah, those old-timey doctors with their crazy theories. Everyone knows it’s in the pancreas.

  42. Fart Captor

    I feel like Dorothy’s first concern here is probably finding out how AG’s with Ryan went, and more specifically, how it may impact Joyce. I doubt she slept very well after learning that Ryan was not just in town, but right campus. I certainly hoped that he was from out of town and would never be seen again.

    And considering how this is Dorothy, I think she might be worried about Amber’s safety as well. She’s one of the few people who know about about AG’s involvement in the car chase with Becky’s dad, and probably recognized that as extremely reckless. Brave as hell, but still very reckless. She might also be thinking that similarly, Ryan is going to be a lot more dangerous than the bike thieves and campus bullies that AG has handled before.

    * Side note: Seriously, why is it not possible for me to hug fictional characters? I love absolutely everything about Dorothy’s expressions and the way she’s approached this conversation make me want to hug her to pieces and then hug the pieces.

    Earlier, I’d discounted other people’s comments suggesting that Dorothy might try to get Amber to back down, or that Amber might end up flipping out at her, but now I’m not so sure. She’ll almost certainly urge more caution than AG would like, and I could see her suggesting Amber back off if she thought she could come up with a better solution, or if she were afraid of Amber getting seriously hurt.

    I also feel a glimmer of hope that Amber might open up to her about what she herself has been going through. I don’t know much about the kind of things she’s been experiencing, but I think talking to someone about it even a tiny bit would be extremely good for her.

    Considering how kind and empathetic Dorothy is, I feel like she could be the ideal person for Amber to have that discussion and/or argument with. She’s barely started the conversation, and its abundantly clear that there will be no criticism, judgement or pity from her.

    The only other people I think could be better suited would be Leslie, or an actual therapist. Preferably one who was a private detective on the side.

    1. butts

      Cerberus for a day, huh?

      1. Fart Captor

        Hah! A poor substitute, I suppose. I guess I just got to thinking about how and why this strip had me just loving Dorothy so much out of nowhere and eventually I just needed to write it all out.

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