98

Performative
Posted on February 7, 2020 by David M Willis
The bonus strip flashback saga of How Jocelyne Got A Cat continues over at the Dumbing of Age Patreon!  All patrons can go check it out. And if you pledge accordingly, you can read tomorrow's strip early!  Today, even!

98 thoughts on “Performative”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    Where’s the ka-BOOM?

    There was supposed to be an Earth-shattering ka-BOOM!

    1. StClair

      you need the Ru-1355 for that.

      1. Marsh Maryrose

        For a moment there, I was hoping that there really was a fissile isotope of Ruthenium.

    2. Cholma

      I think I saw Blaine running away with that suspiciously looked liked an Illudium PU-36 Explosive Space Modulator, so that might explain your lack of “ka-BOOM”.

      1. Deanatay

        “I need it to blow up your minds.

        Yes, they obstruct my view of Venus!”

      2. Deanatay

        “Venus” being Ruth, obvs.

  2. Doctor_Who

    Billie: What if I said that our relationship has had some really toxic and self-destructive elements, and it remains to be seen whether or not I can change permanently this time or if we’re just counting down to the next horrible mishap?

    Crowd: AWWWWWWW!

    Billie: Also I need these glasses to see.

    Crowd: BURN THE HERETIC!!!

    1. Shane

      I too was wondering how this thing really ends.
      Either way, might as well enjoy the moment.
      I wonder what the next Billie Sobriety Tax is going to be.

  3. JetstreamGW

    Give up, Billie.

    1. Doctor_Who

      Just accept the fact that you are adorable. Embrace the kawaii!

    2. Keulen

      It’s too late Billie, now they think you’re cute as well, so they’ll like you even more.

      1. anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness

        As does Ruth by her expression in the last panel

        1. anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness

          Dang – typo in the email – scampers off

  4. shadowcell

    Dumbing of Age Book 10: AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

    1. Felian

      i’m more for “we’re just being performative autocrats, not actual assholes“

  5. Passchendaele

    you can’t escape the pedestal billie

  6. LeslieBean4shizzle

    Yeah, I’m with Rose, Lucy, and Nash on this one.

    AWWWWWWWW!!!

    Sorry, not sorry.

    1. clif

      Yeah. I’m with them too.

      AWWWWWWWW!!!

      Now, about Mike.

    2. Regalli

      Agreed.

      AWWWWWWWWW!!

      You just can’t make a grand gesture revealing your vulnerabilities for the sake of someone you care about like that and NOT have people think it’s cute, Billie! You’re cute as hell right now!

    3. Rabisch

      I think Lucky was smiling happily for his roommate and the other two made the awwww.

  7. BBCC

    Sorry, Billie, fangirl bug’s sunk in deep. You’re stuck with ’em forever now. 😛

    But like…hard pressed to disagree. This is really cute.

    1. Tacos

      At least it’s only at the fangirl-ing stage. Beware the ganfirl-ing stage…

    2. Sunny

      This is almost up there with some of the strips with Dina and Becky in terms of cuteness.

  8. Bagge

    Ruth’s smile in the last panel <3

    1. Kensou

      Squiggly smiles are the best, IMO.

      1. PB

        They arrreeee~ The betrayed vulnerability and suppressed relief and joy are perfect~!!!

    2. A Fan

      ^^^ This! ^^^ times a thousand. Very cute.

  9. Some1

    I like to view the Billie fans as metaphors for internet cults of personality where people profess love for certain actors and such and forget that the person they worship is just human.

    1. StClair

      *cues up Cult of Personality on the muzak*

      1. Delicious Taffy

        Sweet, I love songs that only use the title as lyrics.

  10. ADLegend21

    Sorry Billie, they’re gonna bury you in “AWWWWWW” the more you reveal

    1. Strangeshapes

      But at least the Awe has turned to Awwww…

  11. Stephen Bierce

    I’m A Lo~o~oser
    And I’m not what I appear to be…

    1. Geneseepaws

      And I’ve found someone who’s dear to me???
      I dunno.

  12. Tacos

    Crowd: CAN’T HEAR YOU!! TOO BUSY AWW-ING!

  13. ian livs

    Loving the Ruth faces in this one.

  14. Makkabee

    There’s just no displeasing some people.

  15. Axel

    I’m actually really pleased about this

    1. Axel

      seeing if the images re-rolled or if I just forgot the capitalization

      1. Axel

        (it was the latter)

    2. Bryy

      Like, holy shit, is Billie developing character without any external pressure to do so?

      1. Delicious Taffy

        No, Ruth wants her to be better. Desires from your SO count as pressure.

  16. Robbie

    Ruth’s face in the last panel is making me cry

  17. Cattleprod

    I see Jocelyne’ s still living in a flashback to before news coverage of Mike’s death being totally ubiquitous.

  18. DailyBrad

    Autocrats, roll out!

  19. StClair

    All shall love her and… well, just love her, I guess.

  20. Lingo

    Okay, now tradition dictates that someone has to throw one of you over a couch, and then the two of you eventually fall in love via a toxic and abusive relationship…where’s your actual RA?

    1. Regalli

      Wasn’t the actual RA Beatrice? I can’t really keep track of the Forest Quad gang.

      1. Regalli

        Ah. Spencer. No clue where she is then.

        And don’t forget, it has to be based in deep depressive tendencies only one of you has yet come to terms with and acknowledged, while the other still thinks she’s fine because she’s mostly still functional! (Or he, given Zaph’s here, but it’s just not the same when it’s a sexy heterosexual suicide pact, y’know?)

        1. Lingo

          Exactly!

  21. JessWitt

    I feel like the RA is gonna rain on Billie’s affection-showing parade.

  22. Bunny

    But… what about Mike?! It’s been a month! Has no one noticed he’s missing?

    1. Norah

      You’d think it’d be all that ver campus that someone fell of a building last night.

      1. Norah

        Sheesh. I’ll try it again: You’d think it’d be all over campus that someone fell off a building last night.

        1. Bicycle Bill

          Unless Mike fell into the “Bloomington Triangle”, that little-known area of the IU campus that is at the center of countless whispered rumors of paranormal activities, inexplicable phenomena, and unexplained disappearances, in which case he will never be seen or heard from again.

        2. Zee

          Tbf, and maybe this is just because where I live has a crime problem anyway, people have died, been stabbed and gotten kidnapped on my campus and the most you’ll hear about it is a WhatsApp message not naming names and then everyone moves on with their lives

    2. Keulen

      It’s been less than a day in-comic though. And I’m sure Willis is still enjoying tormenting us by not revealing what happened to Mike yet.

  23. Lingo

    Also, this is great (and very sudden) progress by Billie, but I wonder if she will still refuse to identify as not-straight?

    1. Regalli

      I think she’s coming a bit closer to terms with it (‘she’s my girlfriend and I love her!’), but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s still a little internalized biphobia going on.

      (Also, having another strip in which Billie openly contemplates her orientation is entirely necessary so that there can be a reference to seminal gay romcom But I’m A Cheerleader!)

      1. Jhon

        Billie is starting to think about considering the possibility that she might be bi. Maybe.

  24. Derek

    I don;t understand why Ruth gathered the pod people when they were finally leaving them alone and acting normal

    1. PB

      Specifically to ensure that they would stop being pod people, I think.

    2. BenRG

      To ensure that they continue to leave them alone and act normal.

    3. Keulen

      I’m starting to suspect that acting like pod people is their way of acting normal.

    4. thejeff

      Because Billie wanted to be done with the pretense she’s been living in this dorm.

  25. Suet

    They’ll GIVE Ruth their femurs!!

    1. Miri

      Tribute

  26. PB

    Huh! Color me genuinely impressed.

  27. BenRG

    Seriously, Billie, you’re surprised? If there was basically a dorm full of Joyce-like crazy romantics, it’s Forrest Hall!

  28. Needfuldoer

    Their “awwwww”s somehow sound exactly like the studio audience in a cheesy 80s-to-early-90s family sitcom rerun.

    1. StClair

      *full-body shudder*

      Yes.

    2. PB

      … You made me picture Billie and Ruth as the Bundys.

      … Thank you and curse you in equal measure.

      1. Needfuldoer

        I was thinking more along the lines of Full House.

        1. PB

          Yeah, that makes more sense. I’ve just been watching a lot of Married with Children lately.

  29. abysswatcher1993

    Performative autocrats… Like the villains of Cucumber Quest. That was a good webcomic. I hope the author is doing okay.

    1. MatthewTheLucky

      Her She-Ra novel just came out, so pretty great careerwise at least.

      1. Arianod

        Gigidigi has published a She-Ra novel?????????????????

        1. C.

          It’s a graphic novel, Legend of the Fire Princess, with the illustrations by someone else. Give it a whirl.

      2. abysswatcher1993

        Good to know 🙂

  30. Juanoku

    HAHAHAHA RUTH’S FACE IN THE FIRST PANEL IS INCREDIBLE

  31. Kaz

    So I just recently watched the Heathers musical and learned about the movie from it and now I see that Billy has this kind of Heather Duke, taking a throne as a popular top dog now that she’s not around the rest of her crowd from high school and feeling that any show of vulnerability is to be mocked, except that Billy is actually growing as a person.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Is there a plot to that musical? My partner sometimes puts on music from it when I come over, but my brain refuses to latch onto any of the words or tunes.

  32. Sombrero

    You cannot end a cult just by telling truth to their followers. Let’s see how they incorporate Ruth to their mythology (as a mighty goddess, for sure)

    1. Delicious Taffy

      They’ll probably wind up worshipping a nearby water tower, if they’re allowed to wander far enough.

  33. BarerMender

    Dumbing of Age book 10: We’re Just Being Performative Autocrats, Not Actual Assholes.

  34. MutantSentry

    The Masked Vigilante continued his one man war on crime. Working odd jobs in the day, taking food and rest when and where he could, using a number of aliases, he crisscrossed the nation. One month is Austin, a week in Chicago, a fortnight in Pasadena. Some criminals died at his hands, other were permanently injured.

    His actions have not gone unnoticed. He is being tracked.

    1. PB

      (popcorn)

  35. Rabisch

    AWWWWWWW♡♡♡♡ indeed. Well done Billie.

  36. MutantSentry

    I’m getting Life of Brian vibes.

    =========

    Brian: I’m not the Messiah!
    Arthur: I say you are, Lord, and I should know, I’ve followed a few!
    Crowd: Hail, Messiah!
    Brian: I’m not the Messiah! Will you please listen?! I’m not the Messiah, do you understand?! Honestly!
    Woman: Only the true Messiah denies his divinity!
    Brian: What?! Well, what sort of chance does that give me?! All right, I am the Messiah!
    Crowd: He is! He is the Messiah!
    Brian: Now, fuck off!
    [Silence]
    Arthur: How shall we fuck off, oh Lord?
    Brian: Oh, just go away! Leave me alone!

    —————-

    Brian: Look, you’ve got it all wrong! You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves! You’re all individuals!
    Crowd: [in unison] Yes! We’re all individuals!
    Brian: You’re all different!
    Crowd: [in unison] Yes, we are all different!
    Man in crowd: I’m not…
    Crowd: Shhh!

    =========

    Deffinitly Life of Brian, so I guess Life of Billie

    1. He Who Abides

      ?

    2. Roborat

      You aren’t the only one.

  37. He Who Abides

    Is it weird that I keep forgetting that Zaph is AFAB in this universe?

  38. Charlotte

    I like Billie in this ark. This is personal growth, and it’s good!
    When Billie and Ruth are like this, I always hope that they can help each other and get better together.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Ark? Are they Starlost now?

  39. Arianod

    OK but look at Ruth’s face in the last panel. Oh My God.

  40. Annika

    Aw, that’s adorable! It’s officially been a month since we saw Mike, though…

  41. Roborat

    At this point I suspect Billy could announce she killed a man just to watch him die and she would get the same reaction. And Ruth’s goofy smile in the last panel, that is gold. Unlike the others I won’t comment on the lack of news about Mike and the dastardly duo of dicks.

    1. clif

      Good thing you didn’t comment.

Leave a Reply to Cattleprod Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

*

*

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.