348

Reversals
Posted on May 19, 2017 by David M Willis

348 thoughts on “Reversals”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    “it’s Unpaid Labor”

    1. Ana Chronistic

      actually YES the tags would lie!

      look at all those “congressional aide” tags that should read “you”

  2. AnvilPro

    Dun dun dun

    1. Hellespont

      Exactly what I “heard”

  3. Mr. Mendo

    Ah, there’s the Robin we know and love! ^_^

    1. Doctor_Who

      I sense a 50% chance for a redemption arc.

      1. KingOfGreyfell

        I’d hardly bemoan that. Too many complete bastards, lately. Would be nice to see someone say “I’ve been a complete bastard? I’d like to stop that!”

  4. Stu

    Calling it now – one of his parents has some SERIOUS connections, a la the Rourke Family in “Sin City”.

    Cue “WHORES WHORES WHORES WHORES” joke.

    1. Stephen Bierce

      *plays the old “Miller Time” jingle on the hacked Muzak*

      1. StClair

        *laughs and claps*
        Oh, that was beautiful.

    2. Romanticide

      I saw what you did there… and it was beautiful.

    3. -Sentinel-

      That’s my guess as well. Sort of like Brock Turner: a guy whose social status and “bright future” protects him from anything more than a slap on the wrist, even with rock-hard evidence (which Joyce doesn’t have).

      1. zoelogical

        such a bright future!!!!! of rape!!!

        1. Positron

          No, you’ve got it all wrong, it’s a bright future of being the pinnacle of human achievement!

          (IE being filthy stinking rich and getting away with years of rape)

          /s just in case, rape is terrible and Turner is a terrible human

        2. zoelogical

          -cries for a hundred years-

    4. Jon Rich

      That’s not what I got out of it, though it could be that I’m just dense.

      My thought was that the would-be rapist lied to Joyce about his name.

      1. Needfuldoer

        Or he lied to the election staff when he applied for the position.

        His name was Ryan when he showed up in Roomies, at least according to the wiki.

      2. Dana

        I figured he goes by his middle name.

        1. AndroidDreams

          Hes called Ryan Ruen Royan

      3. Stu

        Oh, he definitely lied to Joyce about it – I just figure that the reason they haven’t given up info about him ALREADY is due to the connections aspect.

        1. Eyebrow

          Or Frieda is lying. Last we saw her, she was totally panicked at the accusation that one of her interns was roofying girls, and reacting by discrediting the messenger, Amazi-Girl.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/huff/

          Just saying, it’s possible Frieda isn’t so reliable here.

        2. merbrat

          When his friends picked him up, Amazi-Girl heard them call him Ryan, too! (after the chase to get her phone)

    5. Lumpy Frogsnuggler

      He did mention being a pastor’s son. Big social conservative* campaign donor maybe?

      *That’s how republicans pronounce theocratic fascist.

      1. Schol-R-LEA

        Something I said years ago (Shameless self-promotion! Get yer shameless self-promotion here, fresh offa the Intarwebs!) seems to fit:

        “The ‘Religious Right’, once you get beyond their rhetoric of personal ‘salvation’, is solidly collectivist and concerned primarily with social conduct.”

        1. Schol-R-LEA

          Oh, and have some of that shameless self-promotion. I’ll even throw in some shameless fanboyism while I’m at it.

  5. poofdepoof

    What the heck is Robin being sorta decent right now?
    Also, did we see someone inform Robin of the Ryan situation or did she find out from social media by herself?

    1. Lone Wolf

      Leslie told her, back at the bar.

    2. fillerusername

      Leslie told her during their “not date” at the bar.

    3. zoelogical

      i mean like maybe she’s awful in other respects but that doesn’t mean she condones rape

      Even Really Awful People Have Standards i guess

      1. Chris Phoenix

        Trump certainly has standards. He won’t date anyone below a 9.

        🙁

        1. zoelogical

          ok but trump goes beyond Really Awful People to Barely Human Rotting Pumpkins so i don’t think we can say that he and robin are really in the same category

          like. robin’s not a straight white six-year-old sixty-year-old man who has spent most of his career losing, spinning losing as winning, committing various sexual assaults, and generally getting away with shit on the basis of that straight white manhood

          robin’s had to work for all the bullshit she spins there’s a difference

        2. Chris Phoenix

          I think you took me too literally. I was trying to imply that the only “standards” Trump has are the standards of physical attractiveness that he applies to women. I was certainly not trying to say that Trump is on the same “maybe has a shred of decency” level as Robin.

        3. zoelogical

          ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh i see

          yeah i was very focused on moral standards; i think that’s why i saw what you were saying through that lens. and idk i just like. can’t even process that kind of rating as a standard at all, so there was definitely a level of Does Not Compute going on there, haha

        4. leadsynth

          Don’t rate women, Joe.

        5. xKiv

          What a difference an indefinite article makes …

    4. Kris

      Here’s a link.
      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/interns/

    5. DinaWho

      She first heard about it the night of the rally, when Amazigirl and Sal chased him through the staging area(? whatever that place was that looked backstageish). I can’t remember if it was then or in one of the convos with Leslie where we saw how completely disgusted she was by what Ryan-whatever-his-actual-name-is was doing/had done.

    6. Pylgrim

      I’ve known people like that. They are fundamentally decent, but genuinely wrong about something. If you bring it up and manage to show them how it is wrong, they’ll fight you and call you names because they hate to be wrong, but later, secretly, they’ll course-correct.

    7. BenRG

      She may be on the right wing but that doesn’t make her any more in favour of roofie-happy rapists.

      1. Liliaeth

        The problem is that for a lot of right wing assholes, even that isn’t a bridge they won’t cross;

  6. Fallingivy

    Ohhhh that piece of shit.

    Not at all surprised, but ohhh that shithead.

  7. Yumi

    Okay, if we’re going with “the tags do lie,” guesses on his name?

    1. boop

      ‘Dang Schnozzola’, i desperately hope

      1. Needfuldoer

        Jimmy Durante rises from his grave and beats Ryan to death for besmirching his nickname.

        1. BP

          Thank you for that laugh. XD

      2. DinaWho

        ‘Dan G. Schnozzola’

    2. abacuswizard

      Scarry McScarFace.

    3. Baf

      Ray Pissed

  8. Peny

    “We just call him ‘Intern’, like how you call Kyle ‘Aide’.”

  9. Kris

    Is his name Ruffy McRaperson?

  10. fillerusername

    So he lied about his name? Not a surprise there but I wonder if there’s some name we’ve heard in passing that’ll make this a bigger thing. Like his full name reveal’s some kind of deeper connection to someone else because it’s not really a big deal if his name’s just like…Chad or something. That wouldn’t change anything but the tag’s.

    1. zoelogical

      his name is sonny fitzwilliam bush the third

    2. Riku

      Let’s take guesses on what character he’s related to

      1. Lauren

        I’m guessing Jake Manley’s brother

      2. zoelogical

        mallard filmore

  11. temporalshrew

    Son of a bongo, of course he’d have a pseudonym. This guy’s building up quite a retribution tab; his comeuppance had better be glorious.

    1. Kris

      Nah! He’ll get away with it. Joyce will be shamed and he’ll end up running for public office. Cause he probably has connections.

      1. nightsbridge

        this is fiction

        1. Pat

          Oh good. Fiction has to make sense.

  12. TimeLoss

    Ryan being the son of someone influential or important? That will complicate things. I believe Ryan did say he was the son of a Pastor back in book 1

    1. Rukduk

      Might be one of those big time tele-evangelist pastors, who’s using donations to “spread the word” to secretly live a lavish life style and get his son out of trouble with a “boys will be boys” mentality towards “Ryan’s” activities.

      1. zoelogical

        jerry falwell

        1. BP

          Nah, he’s dead. And according to the cartoon Queer Duck, he ended up in the gayest section of Heaven with Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde and the like. It was meaner than hell. XD

        2. zoelogical

          omggggggg nice

          haha apparently he has a kid with the same name but he doesn’t seem quite as popular

    2. Kris

      If he was lying about his name do you really think he wasn’t lying about his dad? Probably scouted that Joyce was a church girl and used that so she’d let her guard down.

      1. HMH

        That, or that’s the part of his hook that is true, and that makes it so easy for him to identify and target girls like Joyce. He has the background to know what they want, make them think that he’s that thing, and then take advantage of them the way he does while knowing that they will likely be too meek/ashamed/traumatized to actually out him for what he is.

        I think the biggest swerve would be if he were the son of the pastor of Joyce’s family’s current church, which would immediately put her/Jocelyn on opposite sides of this particular battle with her mom and brother, before either side even realizes that their kin is on the other. That would be a cataclysmic turn, and very Willis-esque.

        1. thejeff

          It would be unlikely that Joyce wouldn’t know and recognize the roughly the same age son of her pastor – he would have been in church and all.

        2. Dragon_Nataku

          I was thinking illegitimate son of Joyce’s pastor

      2. TimeLoss

        I found the strip I was thinking of. Ryan actually states outright that the only part that was true of what he told Joyce was that he is the son of a pastor.

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

        1. thejeff

          Of course, he could have been lying.

          Hard to see why though.

  13. Deathjavu

    So he lied about his name, eh? You’d think someone would recognize him, but I guess anyone that knows him well enough to identify him from the blurry photo doesn’t care enough to name him or doesn’t think he did anything.

    1. Chris Phoenix

      His friend called him Ryan. That’s where Amazi-Girl got the name. He never said it.

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/ryan/

      While looking up all the strips tagged Ryan, I noticed something funny. Ryan tells Joyce that his mother texted him a Bible verse, 2 Corinthians 11:14, “Just some random thing about, y’know, Jesus.” The verse is actually, “And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”

      1. GitarreEngel

        Wow. That Bible reference he made is incredibly creepy.

        1. MatthewTheLucky

          And entirely appropriate for Ryan.

        2. BenRG

          Remember Willis’s background; he knows his way around the scriptures.

        3. Gwen

          Though a potentially risky move with a mark who may know her way around the liable just as much.

  14. lia47

    >:0

  15. zoelogical

    ryan isn’t his name. it’s kylo ryan now

    1. Gwen

      That name will be used to Start Wars.

      1. Gwen

        Unless someone launches the Poelice at him.

        1. zoelogical

          well goshdarnit we better figure out a way to Finnish it then

        2. Rukduk

          And it has to be in a way where people don’t want Reyvenge.

        3. jy3

          Yodad not just go there.

        4. Bill M.

          Leia off him, he’s just playing the Han he was dealt.

  16. LimeSheep

    is it ciaran

    1. Yumi

      I hope not, because I don’t need to see people talking about what a hero Clint actually is after all.

      1. Leorale

        Even if Clint had been a major contributor to Gashface’s development into an evil person (like, if Clint was an accidental Palpatine to Gashface’s Anakin)… bleh, I think it would just be too many horrid abusers to read at once.

    2. poofdepoof

      Wait who is Ciaran?

      1. LimeSheep

        ruth’s ex-boyfriend, namedropped a few days ago.

        http://www.dumbingofage.com/2017/comic/book-7/03-the-thing-i-was-before/dawdled/

        the timing of a brand new name coming immediately before we learn ryan is a fake name just seemed suspicious to me, and i think in the walkyverse her ex was ryan anyway?

        1. Liliet

          Ciaran is a reference to another webcomic, so yeah, pretty unlikely to come up again.

  17. Fart Captor

    As someone named Ryan, I am super-excited about this development.

    1. Ross

      Yeah I know how you feel.

    2. butting

      Coming tomorrow!

      Frieda: “His real name is Fart.”
      Fart Captor: “DAMN YOU WILLIS.”

      1. 3oranges

        No, no, that’s good! Fart Captor would be the one who takes him in.

        1. Fart Captor

          That’s flattering, but I gotta be honest. They escape like, all the time

        2. Reltzik

          Cheeky bastards. What’s their issue? They probably toot their own horn about it. If they’re not careful, they’ll be hoist on their own petard.

        3. Chris Phoenix

          That was awesome.

    3. chris73

      As someone that comes for the drama I have to concur with this

  18. butting

    Something I’m liking: when she finally pulls her head out of her ass gets out of Leslie’s apartment like she was told pulls her head out of her ass, her priority is putting that piece of shit behind bars.

    If I remember right that’s the point that Leslie finally warmed to her on at the pub, before Robin brought in her stalker-home-invasion shit?

    1. Cerberus

      Yup. And yup, it was indeed the moment before Leslie softened up to her (unfortunately for her in the long run).

      Though it makes me feel a bit awkward of trusting that a redemption arc might be beginning since we’ve seen her feed just enough to make people hope she can grow only to slam that door shut so many times with Leslie.

      1. butting

        Can’t lie, I’d love to see the redemption arc.

        But, ‘s gotta be driven by Leslie. At Leslie’s timetable.

        Robin walks away from politics, sends Leslie a regretful “Sorry I treated you so badly, I’m gonna do the right thing now and leave you alone” (maybe with a “totes” thrown in so Leslie knows it really was her), and 6/12/18 months later Leslie checks in to to say “Hi friend” and see what she’s learned?

        I’m thinking that wouldn’t be all bad, but it’s probably the shipper (despite everything…) in me.

        1. Cerberus

          Fully agree.

          Leslie was robbed of so much agency this arc that something to restore that would have to be central to Robin’s redemption arc.

        2. zoelogical

          robin is just. kind of. one of those people who runs all over people through force of personality and sheer dynamism

          so any relationship between her and leslie would have to involve leslie standing up to her and robin learning to fukin listen

        3. Cerberus

          Yup. If she’s going to have a redemption arc, it’s going to have to be a real redemption arc and that’s going to include acknowledging, apologizing, and changing the behavior she used against Leslie.

        4. Sunny

          Except for the tiny detail that if it follows that timetable in-comic, we’d get to see it happen in around 20 years.

        5. thejeff

          Can’t be 6/12/18 months though, due to the decompressed time in this strip. Even six months would be more than a decade of real time.
          Whatever happens is going to play out unrealistically fast in comic time and painfully slow in real time. 🙂

    2. thejeff

      Well, it’s also another thing to grasp at to avoid dealing with what she’s done to her career.
      Not that she isn’t sincere about it, but it’s still a deflection.

      1. Rukduk

        I’m not entirely sure if it’s a deflection or more of a “I can’t fix the problems with my campaign, but I can fix this. And dammit I will.”

  19. Urukak

    I mean, I assume the tags lied about Jocelyne until the reveal, so… probably? Which means the real question is will the tags get changed retroactively like Jocelyne’s were?

    1. Cerberus

      I assume so. And yeah, that’s the other big “the tags lie” moment I remember.

    2. Reltzik

      Maybe “Ryan” is a nickname, like “Walky”? Or a middle name or something?

      1. MatthewTheLucky

        Walky Walkerton.

        Ryan… O’Ryan?

        IS HE BART’S SON!?

        1. Reltzik

          …. I wasn’t thinking that, but….

          We haven’t SEEN Bart yet…. and Willis said he’d run out of established Walkyverse names….

    3. Mr.Morningstar

      They did yeah.

  20. Cattleprod

    There’s precedent for lying tags, like with Jocelyne until the reveal, and then they were retroactively changed.

  21. Passchendaele

    …okay who is he, really, did we confuse his name with one of the bros?!

    Ryan could easily be an alias or a codename or even a nickname for Richard (teehee) or something, I guess? But then there are the tags, which usually get right to a person’s identity and are honest, so maybe its a middle or last name? Honestly I feared to check the tags when Robin mentioned him, but now I’m relieved he didn’t show up and also weirded out. Plot-twist, anyone?

    1. fillerusername

      He told Joyce his name was Ryan.

      1. Yumi

        Which strip? I only recall him being called Ryan by the other guy who came to get him when he was being chased by Sal and AG.

        1. fillerusername

          Oh man you know what? I really thought I recalled them giving each other names in his introduction comic but I just checked and apparently not so now I’m just looking through the archives for when we first got a name.

        2. fillerusername

          Yeah I guess we just got his name from the tags. I read through all his appearances and he’s never been referred to by name by anyone.

        3. fillerusername

          Oh wait nevermind this. The getaway driver called him Ryan.

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/ryan/

        4. HMH

          It could be his last name, or something.

        5. BP

          Maybe he goes by his middle name?

        6. BP

          Past me, we were right. We were horribly, horribly right.

        7. Tan

          http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/ryan/

        8. Nono

          The guy who picked him up at the rally called him Ryan.

    2. Passchendaele

      oh god is his name tristan

      1. Passchendaele

        joyce would probs remember tristan but that seems like the most crazy plot twist Willis could throw until he proves me wrong by next week or something.

        1. Passchendaele

          He also faintly looks like the little crap Sal beat up in her childhood, though she’d probably recognize him in that case.

        2. Reltzik

          I dunno, she didn’t recognize Amber.

        3. Needfuldoer

          We don’t know Sal even noticed Amber at the gas station that day. Amber was hiding behind the shelves the entire time.

          Ethan was her convenient hostage, but Sal only vaguely recognized him at Joyce’s party.

        4. Passchendaele

          Well, I mean, Amber did make up for a lack of visibility by stabbing Sal in the hand with a large knife after the attempted robbery. Since Sal barley recognizes Ethan, and hasn’t shown any sign of recognizing Amber, I’ll concede that point that Sal doesn’t recognize a lot of people from her past. In a lot of cases, I suppose it’s just a case of people who haven’t seen each other in a long time and don’t really suspect that those involved in past traumas are still around, particularly so nearby? When you’re not specifically looking for someone, you rarely find them.

        5. BBCC

          TBF, Amber came up from behind Sal to stab her, and after said stab, Sal was a bit busy screaming (and probably crying).

        6. Passchendaele

          ah, true! My own inability to derive conclusions from anything has struck me again. XD

        7. Socks

          I feel like Sal beat up a lot of little shits in her childhood, and I, for one, could not necessarily visually identify the adult faces of some of the people I went to elementary school with.

      2. Safgaftsa

        Who’s Tristan?

        1. Catullus

          He’s someone from Joyce’s hometown who she was implied to have a crush on.

        2. Safgaftsa

          Ah, thanks! I knew the name sounded familiar.

    3. thejeff

      But “Ryan” fit so nicely with the Ryan from Ruth’s Walkyverse backstory. Seems weird to have the tags lying about meta-connections like that.

    4. Mr.Morningstar

      If it was his surname I’m sure Frieda wouldn’t say that Ryan isn’t his name.
      Its probably just an alias. One his getaway driver knew, which means he’s probably in on it and they actively have a plan for when shit goes south with there horrible drugging girls thing.

      Which honestly makes it feel so much worse.

  22. Hazel

    oh hell

  23. DailyBrad

    Given what he intended to do, no wonder he lied to Joyce.

    1. Fart Captor

      He never told Joyce his name. It’s just what his getaway driver called him

      1. Victor Riley

        It was the guy in the shotgun seat… we couldn’t see the driver. Maybe that’s who “Ryan” really was, but Amazi-Girl misunderstood? The other guy was grabbing his friend, and then telling the driver to go?

        1. merbrat

          Oooooh, that is possible! I was thinking “Ryan” gave a false name when he volunteered as intern. Maybe he was using that position to scope-out new ‘marks’ for nefarious purposes.

  24. newllend(Henryvolt)

    How far does this Ryan Rabbit hole goes.

  25. Felgraf

    MOTHERFUCK.
    Well played gut-punch Willis.

  26. Pigeon Pollyx

    I feel a little better seeing as how Robin’s further screentime is really just adding a greater rally against not-Ryan but still

  27. Tarmaniel

    Really dark prediction: Wasn’t “Ryan” paired up with Ruth in one of the previous universes? And we know he’s following Dorothy and Walky back to the dorm. Anyone want to bet it’s him that finds Ruth brooding alone in a corner? I’m just saying, it would perfectly explain the new haircut.

    1. horrorshow88

      Wait, he’s following Walky and Dorothy?!

      1. foamy

        The last time we saw him, he was sticking his face out the door as they walked away. There’s a possibility Joe may have seen him — Joe turned around before catching up with D&W again — but no other on-panel appearances since them.

      2. Mr.Morningstar

        look in the background of the last few strips with walky and dorothy,
        you’ll see him

    2. Cerberus

      I’m gonna punch things if his name turns out to be Ciaran.

      1. Tarmaniel

        I didn’t mean that, I haven’t read It’s Walky or Roomies but I could have sworn I’ve heard someone mention Ruth was paired up with Ryan in one of those.

        1. thejeff

          Yes. In Ruth’s traumatic flashback, he was the older? boy who seduced her while she was supposed to be watching Walky and Billie and then dumped her.

  28. Rukduk

    Oh shit. This isn’t good. Especially if “Ryan’s” pastor daddy is some sorta big time mega church type pastor who’s supporting Robin’s “family values” campaign in order to get “Ryan’s” foot into the door of politics in the form of a high access internship.

  29. Kernanator

    What if Scarface gives a different fake name at every party he goes to.

  30. Sheason

    I’m confused. It wasn’t the tags that told us his name was Ryan…

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/ryan/

    1. Cephalo the Pod

      Oh yeah, what’s up with that?

    2. Keulan

      Yeah, if his name’s not Ryan then why did the guy who rescued him from Amazi-Girl call him by that name?

      1. zoelogical

        maybe he was talking to the driver????

        that makes little sense tho

      2. inqntrol

        Possibly a nickname or he lied to to that guy about his name in case he learned about his activities or worst case that guy is a friend and knows what Ryan is doing.

        1. HMH

          Or, he’s such a high-profile individual that he’d give a fake name to the majority of those working on Robin’s campaign with him, so that they don’t know he’s whichever rich old white dude’s son and create a huge distraction for everybody.

        2. dn3s

          this seems much more likely imo

    3. thejeff

      The tags told us Ryan’s name well before that sequence though. Back during the actual party/attempted rape sequence. Judging by the old comments, the tags appeared a couple of strips into it and people were already guessing “ryan”, based on the Walkyverse version before then.

  31. Cephalo the Pod

    In retrospect, what serial rapist would give out their name to someone they were targeting?

  32. Yumi

    So, unless I’m missing something as I look back at strips, “Ryan” never lied about his name. He never said his name; it came from the tags and in-story from the guy in the car who came to get get him.

  33. John

    Ironically, his given name is actually “Gashface”. “Ryan” is a nickname his friends gave him in high school.

  34. fillerusername

    Maybe his last name is Ryan?

    1. Leorale

      Or O’Ryan. (I’m still waiting for Bart O’Ryan to show up somewhere, you see.)

      1. JessWitt

        He could be the father of “Ryan”.

        1. Leorale

          That’s what I meant exactly, like he pretended his name was Ryan because he’s Justin O’Ryan or Bart O’Ryan Jr. or whatever, and Bart O’Ryan is his dad.
          However, others have said that there’s Word Of God that gashface really is a pastor’s son, so that probably torpedos my fan-speculation.

  35. Fallingivy

    So does Not Ryan have a prior conviction that came out since they know his real name or something, because apparently this helped unendorse Robin and I doubt they’d add this into consideration if it was an intern ‘good son of a preacher white boy with a clean record and good future’ getting ‘smeared’ by some ‘crazy internet feminists’.

    1. Mr.Morningstar

      It helped with her unendorsement in that even if the republican party don’t give a shit about rape victims, the last thing theywant is a controversy involving one of their own. Particularly with a subject like rape. It’s in their best interest to cut their losses.

      It’s possible he does have a criminal record, (should have more) but he could also just be using an alias since he seemed to have his roofying techniques down pretty well. Get the girl a drink, get her alone and then do the unpleasentness that I wish was always followed by glass and/or bat to the face

  36. Leorale

    He never mentioned his name to Joyce (which, iirc, Willis once noted in an alt-text).
    He lied about his name to whomever called him Ryan.
    He could quote and cite bible verses, but there’s no real reason to assume he was truthful about being a pastor’s son, either.

    1. Victor Riley

      After Joyce took her glass and went smashy-smashy on his face, giving him the scar (and before the drug took effect), she accused him of not being a Pastor’s son… and in that moment, he did say it was actually true. Given the tense moment, I don’t see how he’d have the wherewithal to continue crafting his lie there, not with how pissed he was.

      1. Leorale

        Aw dang for my theory. Do we know any other people who could get implicated in a not-actually-named-Ryan scandal?
        Or is it that he is named Ryan, but he isn’t actually working for Robin?

        1. Leorale

          –oh, derp, I didn’t see today’s last panel. I am clearly too sleepy to fan-speculate properly. good night!

      2. John

        IIRC, there’s Word of God that he wasn’t lying about being a pastor’s son, too.

        1. Leorale

          Phooey. Word of God torpedoes my theory — “Bart O’Ryan’s nephew or whatever” just wouldn’t have the same dramatic flair.

        2. Lauren

          I could be wrong (I don’t seem to have the crazy memory for details most readers here seem to) but we’ve never seen/heard mention of Bart O’Ryan in this universe yet correct? Who’s to say he’s not a pastor this time around?I say your theory still holds merit.

    2. Leorale

      I vote he’s the son of Bart O’Ryan!
      That guy is sufficiently high-profile, and maybe he does all Robin’s partisan faux-news.
      Also he’s like the only Walkyverse character who still needs to appear reimagined in DoA.

      1. zoelogical

        :ooooo i like that theory actually

    3. Chris Phoenix

      Yeah, funny thing about him citing Bible verses. The one he picked, telling Joyce his mom texted him something about Jesus, was actually about how Satan appears as a being of light. In other words, topical, given that he was trying to seduce Joyce at the time… and shows that he was totally making up the citation.

      1. Leorale

        Iirc he said his grandma picked that one, and he wasn’t all that pleased about it, it was foreshadowing from Willis to us.

        I was thinking of this strip: http://www.dumbingofage.com/2011/comic/book-1/06-yesterday-was-thursday/thessalonians/
        (I suppose he could’ve seen Joyce alone there, read her, and refreshed his memory on his phone before he went over. But that seems too complicated, I think he really can cite on the fly.)

  37. General Tekno

    How do we know Ryan is a FIRST name?

    Maybe he’s related to the House Majority Leader.

  38. Cerberus

    Comic Reactions:

    Panel 1: Becky is absolute love, I got to say.

    And it’s such a nice subtle action. Like, scandal plus tweeted reversals on queer issues. Robin’s current situation is such that it’s now much easier for her to just accept her own reality and let her views evolve out of the toxic swamp they are mired in rather than still try and reclaim the approval of folks that think she’s a demoness now.

    And it’s sad. It’s sad that all it took for her twisted shitty party to abandon her was a queer scandal and a few tweets that were supportive of the rights of others.

    Panel 2: Oh, Becky, you are very very good at what you do.

    And Robin… this is a good moment for Robin, I feel. And it feels monumentous that it’s one of her earlier actions and one of the few we see that follows from an initial promise.

    Does it mitigate all the harm she did to Leslie and the fear and distress she caused her? No. Nor does it mitigate her voting record and campaign and the harm that does to queer citizens, especially as she’s in the midst of trying to argue that nope, she’s still totes team homophobe.

    But it’s a strong good action that she really cares about doing not only something, but leaning her relative power to try and do something meaningful about a rapist.

    Will it be the start of something more? A redemption and all the hard work that goes into it? I dunno and well Robin has a bad habit of leaving just enough hope behind to make you overlook her flaws and try and double down in hoping for her to change and grow.

    But even if it doesn’t, this is a beautiful moment to enjoy.

    1. fillerusername

      I’ve said this before but she should just rebrand herself as a democrat. Becky made it very easy for her and wanting to lock up date rapists is definitely more of a democrat thing.

      The republicans make them their leaders.

      1. fillerusername

        Leslie might gain back some small respect for her if she did this though I don’t see Robin becoming less indifferent to the endgame of her politics. But at least she’d be indifferent on the less evil side?

      2. Cerberus

        That’s a really slick action by Becky, because yeah, with very little actions, she’s basically made it more work for Robin to stick to this path that isn’t working rather than to accept the ready made path that would be more true to her sexuality.

        Like, she’s using Robin’s tendency to gravitate to whatever feels easiest to her whims to try and prompt a genuine change of heart and policy position.

        It’s fucking brilliant.

        1. fillerusername

          Becky’s a clever girl and ha, I like how your response is basically the exact same one i made down below but much better said 🙂

        2. foamy

          I dunno if I’d call a change of heart prompted by “this is easier” genuine, precisely.

      3. Rukduk

        All she’d really have to do is hold a professional press conference and say something like this “When I started in politics, I wanted to help people. And in order to hopefully get some of my ideas about things such as veteran care through I towed the part line. I supported legislation that targeted and hurt LGBT+ individuals in order to keep my position which eventually became my only goal: stay in office, without even remembering why I ran in the first place. And that was wrong. I was wrong. I treated people like…like me as if they weren’t human because of who they were attracted to. That’s right, I am not straight. I am bi. I didn’t know for the longest time and it was confusing for me. It helped play into my believe and rhetoric that people could just…turn themselves off. And the instant I figured that out, the instant I actually acknowledged non-straight and non-cis people as worthy of respect, my party kicked me to the curb. After years of doing everything they wanted, I was given abandoned as soon as I no longer fit. In, suffice it to say I’ve been disillusioned with my former party and politics in general. But, now that I realize I was wrong, I want a chance to make things right, and to try to mitigate what harm my former party might do. With that said, if they will have me, I intend to run next election cycle as a Democrat, and if they won’t, then as an independent. I know that this isn’t enough to repair the damage I’ve done, in fact probably nothing will ever be enough to fix what I did, but I will try. I’m sorry. I’m sorry to everyone I hurt. And, I want to try to help you now, while I still can. Before things are too late. And once again to the LGBT+ community, I am sorry. I am sorry that I hurt…that I hurt our cause. I deeply ask for your forgiveness, but I know it’s something I am going to have to earn, given my actions and my…hypocrisy. Thank you for your time.”
        ……
        Not that Robin will actually say this (after all I did use the word professional to describe this idea of a conference), but an optimistic person can hope for such a change, right?
        ….
        Also, I actually finally read some of Shortpacked to see why people shipped Robin and Leslie, and I have to say, they eventually came to a sweet place together, but oi vey that did not start well at all. Also, fuck both universes’ version of Leslie’s family.

        1. thejeff

          Well, LGBTQ rights aren’t the only issue where Republicans and Democrats differ.

          Is she changing her stances on everything? Makes her seem like a complete opportunist.

    2. zoelogical

      i feel so weird about becky’s fake tweets being the impetus for robin to turnaround like

      i mean. on one level. the blowback she gets should be enough to prove to her that it’s an actual important battle. but on the other hand it’s something she didn’t get to choose

      when she was basically corralling her life around not having to choose

      and now she does get to choose, whether to repudiate them or to embrace them

      ergh

      1. fillerusername

        Honestly she’d just be choosing how to best rebuild her career and regain some power and at a certain point it would be less work to rebuild by going over to the other side than trying to win favor with the republicans again.

        1. zoelogical

          eh. fair enough

          feels kind of like a tomi lahren situation tho. like. when the republicans reject you for being not one hundred percent what they think you should be like they have rejected SO MANY OTHERS why are u even shocked and why look for acceptance from the people you maligned

          ergh

    3. Bicycle Bill

      Why can the local branch of Robin’s party consider her a loose cannon on deck and give her the heave-ho over some tweeted reversals of policy, when the national GOP party is still falling over each other to make excuses for the POTUS whenever he reverses policy via Tweetstorm?

      1. Cerberus

        Because those tweets are in favor of orthodox or extreme right-leaning positions and aren’t doing something so awful as acknowledging the humanity and importance of rights of a group the right-wing hates.

        Hell, I think Trump got more hate from his base for vaguely tolerating Caitlyn Jenner’s existence than for any of his acts of treason or other scandals.

        1. Rukduk

          On the other hand, a lot of old-school (Cold War type) people who hate Russia are turning on the Miralago Orange (which is a surpring amount of the “red population”) and a lot of moderates have been driven away. Given the fact that even some Reds in office are getting tired of his shit and a couple are starting to view his conduct as criminal (every time John McCain shows up on tv in an interview involving the Donald, pay close attention to his face and body language; it is that of a very disturbed and disgusted man who would be trying to impeach the Trump if he thought enough of his own party would behave with ethics instead of party loyalty) and that we have someone considered the best and most impartial in his field investigating the Trump-Russia connection, we might get the first successful impeachment of a president…most likely followed by the second successful impeachment of a president if Pence doesn’t resign before such proceedings begin because he can see the shit about to hit the fan. And if things keep going the way the are, it might happen before the midterms. Because there is one thing that conservative Americans hate more than or just as much as the poor, ethnic minorities, and the LGBT+ community; and that’s Russians. Ironic that our two countries hate each other so much now, when we had really good relations between the Civil War and World War I, but it’s the truth. If Muller finds irrefutable proof that Russia was involved with Trump’s campaign team and is blackmailing/ordering Trump around, then Trump is gone. Because no American wants an ex-KGB member’s personal hand puppet as president. We just need hard evidence, since currently it’s only (albeit highly convincing) circumstantial evidence. And Muller will find it, even if it takes him a little while, the only complaint against him was that he was too obsessive over what seem like small details. The next time Trump leaves the country, he might not come back.
          …
          Of course I’m being optimistic, but hey someone has to in order to try cheering people up. It’s also possible that the CIA and Secret Service will work together to kill him while he’s out of country, and that Pence will be to tainted by Trump to do anything, but that’s just wishful thinking.
          …
          Also, is it weird that we’ve come tho trust the FBI over Congress to defend the pillars of democracy, when no one in the FBI is elected?

  39. Proxiehunter

    I’m predicting his real name is Paul.

  40. Surah-2

    Why would his friend call him something else though? What if he actually lied to Robin’s people?

    1. Yumi

      Maybe his friend reads the tags.

    2. fillerusername

      Right now I’m thinking Ryan is either his last name or he’s a part of some kind of rape club and they all go by alias’.

      Or for a little bit of both he could be in a frat?

    3. itsaboo

      His friend calls him that after Amazi-Girl’s gone after him, so probably said “this chick wants to know my real name so call me Ryan or something when you come pick me up to throw her off the trail” off-panel around that time.

    4. nobilis

      Perhaps he told Robin’s people that his name was Boyce Willoughby-Boyce, and they believed him …

  41. JessWitt

    Dang. So he either used an alias or his name isn’t Ryan. Freaking guy is like Carmen Sandiego except actually evil and not someone to root for.

    1. Victor Riley

      Those original computer games were still some of the best ever… educational and fun. I wish they’d re-do those for modern computers… because I don’t have a Commodore 64 anymore.

      1. zoelogical

        i love carmen sandiego…i have such a crush……

        apparently they’re making a new series with gina rodriguez as carmen sandiego and my heart is Literally A-Flutter

        1. JessWitt

          Fingers crossed the revival goes well.

        2. zoelogical

          gina rodriguez seems to have a good head on her shoulders but yes, fingers well crossed

          carmen sandiego deserves a decent reboot and some good cash inflow

        3. Needfuldoer

          They’d better get Rockapella involved, too.

        4. zoelogical

          heck. yes.

      2. Jess

        I remember a Carmen Sandiego game for PC. It was with the Tower of Babble. I loved it.

  42. Whatevsman

    Of course it isn’t. That sneaky butt weasel

  43. Lingo

    Isn’t it possible that his real name IS Ryan, but he lied about his name when he joined Robin’s campaign?

    …I mean, I’m not sure what his motivation for lying would be, but on the other hand what would be his motivation for lying to the friend who picked him up the night of the rally?

    1. Kamino Neko

      Or, you know, Frieda is lying so that they can deny having had a serial rapist helping the campaign.

  44. Schmeedle

    I wonder if he starts to say his name in this one and then turns it into something else and he’s actually a Justin.

    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/intern/

    1. Cerberus

      That’s… that’s actually a good shout.

    2. Fart Captor

      So “Tern” is his last name, then! That means we actually have more on him now!

      1. Tan

        Justin N. Tern, son of Past R. Tern. ‘Past’ is short for Pastrick.

  45. BlindSeer

    This strip blew my mind. I mean, we knew he could be lying about his name, but it kind of never sunk in. After all, there was a character in the Walkverse named Ryan that he seemed to be based off of. That said, I think I know who he is. This is a complete guess. I don’t follow Patreon, and all my experience with the Walkyverse comes from reading it as Willis re-uploads it. That being said, I think he’s this guy:

    http://www.itswalky.com/comic/first-contact/

    Willis said he knows where in the Dumbingverse Bart O’Ryan is. He looks similar to Ryan, at least when glaring. His last name is also O’Ryan, which seems too good to be a coincidence. From what Willis said he’s the “villian” of the third act of ItsWalky, so it doesn’t seem like too much of a stretch to think he’d be an asshole here as well.

    1. zoelogical

      he’s a redhead tho and this ryan is very, very blonde

  46. Cerberus

    Panel 3: Okay, now the strip is absolutely cartoon unbelievable. I mean, a Republican party that actually gives a fuck about sexual assault? There’s suspending disbelief and then there’s total loss of immersion.

    But more seriously, again, I love that Robin is just on top of it in a really strong way. Like, if that really was a part of her being abandoned then her type of strong action would be exactly the right response to it. It would lose her the votes of folks that previously voted for her, but it’d be both morally and politically right.

    Panel 4: Nah, you’re the Republican Party, any given organization is required to carry a certain number of Ryans and Steves by law.

    Panel 6: Oh. Oh fuck. No no no, this is bad. Like, a) that they are using the wrong name on social media which will allow Ryan and his crew to try and discredit it, b) that this is the same Frieda who was all in for obfuscation before so this might be a tactic for erasing it that she’s put in motion, and c) well…

    He’s a son of a pastor, which could mean small potatoes or could mean next generation of a mega-church leader and all the political connections that go with that.

    Like, it’s bad enough the rapist is free, stalking the good guys, may have downloaded means of tracking people’s phones. But add on being potentially very politically connected and having powerful people willing to put pressure on “making the problem go away” and you get a nasty recipe for a massive smear job on Joyce that could be really really bad for her.

    And the good guys don’t even have a real name yet.

    Yeah, this is about to go places and very few of them are good.

    Alt-text: No, never. They would never lie. *uses foot to slide Jocelyne’s dead name tags back under the table*

    1. Kris

      Again I have to ask do we have confirmation on that “son of a pastor” thing? I’m not saying it’s not true, (it could even be a great twist if that pastor’s the one that leads the church Joyce’s family goes to) but how do we know it’s not another lie?

      1. Cerberus

        He claimed that one was actually true at a time he was angry and owning up to the fact that he was full of shit. So, maybe it’s also a lie, but I suspect that, the fact that he’s a rapist, and that he has a scar might be the only true facts we know about him.

      2. zoelogical

        we dont have confirmation but honestly at this point i wouldn’t be surprised if it was the one true thing about him

        like joyce was like “you lied to me! about everything!!” and he was like “well not about everything” in a im the son of a pastor kind of way

        it’s not enough to write an article about b/c you need double confirmation for that but i’m personally comfortable being all “it’s true until we have reason to believe otherwise”. mostly because storywise, if it wasn’t true we would literally know nothing about him and have no consistent personality traits/backstory to link to him

        like idk i feel like the fact that we misunderstood his name to be ryan (he didn’t even lie about what his name was!! willis did that and let us believe it!) means that it’s less likely for there to be more misdirections, mostly because after a point having too many misdirections stops being a cool wow horror moment and starts being frustrating. it stops being a plot twist and starts being a gimmick

    2. Reltzik

      To be very-reluctantly fair regarding your comments on Panel 3, the right might not care about sexual assault (at least, not the people on top, when it’s their own people). But it does care about widespread EXPOSURE of sexual assault and angry public reaction. This is why O’Reilly is no longer employable by anyone on the ri-…

      …. DAMMIT BECK!

      1. Fart Captor

        That only happened because he was hemorrhaging advertisers. Fox was perfectly happy to keep sweeping that under the rug as long as he brought in money

      2. thejeff

        You’re pretty much right, except that Ryan isn’t one of “their own people”. He’s an intern, a flunky. How dare his indiscretions threaten his betters!
        Standard practice would be to sweep it under the rug or throw him under the bus, whichever is more expedient.
        Since he’s already all over social media, the under the rug option is less appealing.

    3. Zer0

      Until we see any other evidence, I am inclined to think he is named Ryan, and Frieda + the rest of the party is trying to hide their ties with the POS. Even if it means a bald face lie like “we never heard of this Ryan guy,” when he has been an intern with them the whole time.

    4. Sam

      There is still the possibility that his real name is Ryan and that he lied to THEM because people sometimes lie. But that might be too hopeful.

    5. BBCC

      He doesn’t have the ability to track anybody but AG. The app seems to be a contingency app to find AG’s phone in case it’s lost or stolen on patrol. That said….this is bad.

  47. Lingo

    This Whitney guy kinda looks like the Congressional Aide. For a moment I thought he might have actually earned a name.

  48. Jezi

    Everyone else is handling the “Ryan” situation pretty deftly so I’ll just say may the deity of her choice bless and keep Becky MacIntyre and leave it at that.

  49. Wack'd

    i misread the alt text for a moment and was like “wow that’s really off-message”

  50. Mr. Random

    Better question, why would he give a fake name and/or why would Frieda protect him?

    1. Rukduk

      Because he’s either:
      A) the son of a very supportive campaign financed
      B) secretly her brother!!!! Dun Dun Duh!!!

    2. vlademir1

      1) He’s stated he’s the son of a pastor. That doesn’t per se mean anything, but it can mean he has some reasonable familial social power and/or wealth to work with.

      2) He’s been working for Robin’s reelection campaign. He could just be a politically interested person, but quite often in campaigns for national office those kinds of positions get filled by the children of wealthy and powerful families because their families donated money and/or pulled strings and called in favors to get them that on paper experience.

      3) He’s likely not lying about Ryan being his name… it probably is his middle name. He probably goes by that name as a shield to protect his first and last name should anyone try and go after him for his activities.

      1. thejeff

        3) is pretty much my guess. On the meta level he’s almost certainly “Ryan” – the Dumbiverse analogue to the creepy Walkyverse Ryan. How that matches up with what Frieda’s saying here isn’t clear.

  51. JessWitt

    Possible real names: Donald, Roger, or Bill.

  52. zoelogical

    hmm i wonder if this is the impetus for dorothy to stop working at the newspaper. like i dont know how attached her name is to this report, but if it was, then that would be a reason for them to fire her

    and she is so stressed she might just take the opportunity and go

  53. itsaboo

    His name is clearly “Bro” (or possibly “Our Boy”) http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/satisfied/

    1. zoelogical

      are we sure it isn’t “the first time any of you have ever satisfied a woman”

      got some biblical resonance to it

  54. Reltzik

    Well let’s look at the bright side. They HAVE identified him, even if the name was wrong.

  55. pjeseb

    Plot Twist!

    …Tina, that doesn’t make any–

    PLOT TWIST!!!

    (I’m sorry, I recently played through Dragon Keep again and I couldn’t resist).

    1. Zer0

      Is the plot twist that Brick appears and solves all the problems by punching them? I could dig that.

  56. Delicious Taffy

    WHAT

    1. Delicious Taffy

      Going through the tags, isn’t the first instance of the name “Ryan” from when that guy picked him up after the fight at the rally? Honestly, it makes sense for his buddy to use a fake name, to keep people from identifying him and giving his name to any authorities. I fucking hate when shitbags are smart like this.

      1. thejeff

        In comic, yes. He was tagged as Ryan since early on in the party sequence though. There are comments about it at the time. He’d already been pegged by some as Ryan, based on similarities to the Walkyverse Ryan.

  57. zoelogical

    okay let’s do a thread for all the dumbass hilarious names ryan might possibly have:

    1) kylo bryan
    2) sonny fitzwilliam bush the third
    3) jimmy joe bob
    4) methuselah “meth” martin
    5) pray-to-the-lord “ryan” turner
    6) admit-your-sins “ryan” saul
    7) comeuppance phillips
    8) ricker mayhew

    1. itsaboo

      9) Bro Broson
      10) Douchey McDoucheface

      1. pjeseb

        11). Nebuchadnezzar “Chad” Ferrous, Admiral of the Seventh Fleet
        12). Prince Joffrey the Second, King of the Andals and blah blah blah, Protector of the Realm
        13). Six
        14). Nuckin Futs, Heir to the Futs Dairy Empire
        15). Wyatt “Oh God Why?” Masonenlawh

        1. zoelogical

          yes

        2. Leorale

          16) Fart.

        3. zoelogical

          Fart Fenderson

      2. zoelogical

        yes

    2. Reltzik

      Rye’n Ham.

      1. zoelogical

        bless u i think u sneezed some puns in here

    3. zoelogical

      i shouldn’t have numbered this. score one for the learning experiences scoreboard

  58. Kris

    This is just for reference
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-6/04-it-all-returns/kazam/

    His name is pastor Landrum. If the name Landrum comes up tomorrow this has been officially scouted. Do you notice any family resemblance between “Ryan” and Landrum? Place your bets now.

    1. zoelogical

      apropros of little: any dress is a tearaway if u believe in yourself

      apropros of more: where is landrum on this page OH OKAY IN THE TAGS. the tags that lie. i weep. but it is likely that they are not lying there, in that that is the name that the pastor is known by

      1. Rukduk

        Shit. The hair color looks similar and so does face shape.
        …
        Welp, here’s the final nail that leads to the division of the Brown family.

        1. zoelogical

          i mean we can’t see the chin

    2. pjeseb

      I highly doubt that Joyce would have failed to recognize her own pastor’s son. This is the same girl who went to morning AND afternoon services, after all.

      Also, I really don’t see any family resemblance between the two, now that you mention it.

      I herby bet 400 eridium and 9 seraph crystals on Ryan NOT being pastor Landrum’s mistake/spawn.

      (My real-life cash-money funds are a little low at the moment.)

      1. Kris

        Not saying it’s true…..but if you wanted to theorize. Hank did say they changed churches a lot when she was young, they might not be super familiar with the church they’re at now. Not everyone can have Joe’s dna where every son is a clone of their tather. And I wouldn’t put it past Ryan to no show church enough for Joyce not to recognize him. I’m personally 50/50 on it myself but it is plausible.

        1. Safgaftsa

          If they changed churches that much I would think they wouldn’t be that bound to this one, but on the other hand, I’m not sure what I would put past Mrs. Brown.

        2. Rukduk

          It’s because (to make her even more hateful and hypocritical to her Christianity) Carol Brown has secretly been sleeping with the pastor!!

        3. Rukduk

          Just a theory. Repeat. Just a theory.

    3. Leorale

      This occurred to me too, but they just don’t look alike. If anyone, not-Ryan looks a little more like youth pastor Powers, but Powers mainly looks like Harry Potter. Neither has a strong enough resemblance to be any fun.

      1. Kris

        I guess it could be youth pastor powers too. Personally I have trouble nailing down Power’s age. He looks slightly older than Joyce like maybe mid to late twenties? So he doesn’t look old enough (to me anyway) to have a son in college. It could also be a completely different pastor. Although I don’t know why you would reveal a mystery third pastor/father when you have two waiting backstage for a chance to be plot relevant.

  59. Loki

    I am confused at the word schnozzola. Is it… Yiddish? o.O Why is Robin using Yiddish?

    1. zoelogical

      maybe her stepdad is jewish

    2. Bicycle Bill

      “schnozzola” has always meant “nose” since before the days of Jimmy Durante.

      1. butts

        Yeah, but it’s Yiddish. You can blame Jimmy Durante for the cultural penetration

  60. Arian

    When I read that, I assumed he lied to Robin’s team, and that Ryan was his real name, which was why his friend called him by it, and why it was in the tags. The thing about Jocelyne’s former tags is a point, though.

  61. Zer0

    If it is Ciaran that would make sense, he might already go by Ryan for simplicity, since it is a similar nickname. Plus that would give a chance for added drama bringing Ruth into this particular drama. Not confident enough to speculate too much with what’s really going on though.

  62. Bagge

    Frieda has the best day, hasn’t she?

    1. zoelogical

      wow o wow. just luv days like this when u work in politics

    2. StClair

      her and the White House staffers.

  63. HMH

    Friendly reminder that, no matter what, Sal is the person who this is all going to initially come down upon, as she’s the extremely out-of-place-looking and identifiable PoC with a history of trouble with the law from the rally fiasco who was actually spotted brutally decking this so-called “Ryan” character.

    1. zoelogical

      :(((

    2. BBCC

      Yeeeeeep. If this rally brings down shit on anybody, it’s gonna be Sal. Because you’re right – she’s a PoC with a bad history with law enforcement who hit a white boy and she’s not the one with a mask.

      1. HMH

        Oh, I also remembered just now that it’ll definitely fuck with Sarah/her scholarship, as well. She’s the other PoC who has violently and blatantly (and, duh, deservedly) assaulted this guy in front of a huge crowd of witnesses, and that also establishes a pattern that aggressive women and PoC have some kind of vendetta against this guy in the eyes of the general public, which Faux News will have a field day running with as a story. Say goodbye to Sal’s freedom, and say goodbye to Sarah’s scholarship, and Amber, Amazi-Girl, and Joyce are all going to feel like it’s 100% their fault and probably go into their own separate personal tailspins.

        1. BBCC

          Which is a thing Sal brought up to Sarah – “So, you’re basically volunteering to the cops that you assaulted a guy?” And yeah, if that does happen, the two of them are the ones going to jail forever.

  64. Chris

    Oh no…

    Anyways, guys. I’ve returned to the Internet. Sorry about my lack of commenting but my week has been very busy.

    1. Jhon

      NOT BUSY ENOUGH

  65. Nico

    That is a plot twist I did not expect.

  66. BenRG

    Oh, really? Well in retrospect, it’s kind of obvious that he wouldn’t preface an attempted rape with a real name. So who is he? The Governor’s son? The senior senator’s grandson?

    No, let me guess: His father, the preacher, is a major contributor to the GOP and, as such, ‘Ryan’ has effective immunity from prosecution lest ‘someone’ fund primary challenges to all the sitting GOP politicians in Indiana backed up by his grass-roots organisation (organised, in defiance of the law, through the churches he operates) who would use mass protests to drive the sitting folks out of office.

    1. ValdVin

      If !Ryan is an IU student and the close relative of a major pol, I would not be surprised if this means Dean McHenry knows, or has met, the family.

      I can see an arc where a good man like the Dean is pressured, even threatened professionally, by a “family values” contingent, to make this problem go away.

  67. Liliet

    oh my god I can’t believe Robin actually didn’t forget about that???
    I
    I actually gave her too little credit
    wow

  68. chris73

    Ryan is…wait for it…Ciaran! Ciaran was a decent guy but he got his heart broken by Ruth/Clint or Clint told Ciaran lies about Ruth and now Ciaran is looking for revenge on young women!

    *I’ve had a few glasses of wine so this is most likely 100% wrong

    1. Li

      Let’s go ahead and never ever ever say “this dude is only a rapist because someone broke his heart”.

      1. Cerberus

        This.

  69. darkoneko

    …because of course it wasn’t. meh.

  70. tbf

    Could it be… Leland?

    1. Leorale

      Marcie’s bully? Yes, it could.

    2. OnyxIdol

      Well there’s a kicker if it is true.

      1. BenRG

        It would also mean that Amazi-Girl would probably have to be the one to pull Sal off of him before she did something stupid!

    3. Random832

      Oddly enough I think the Leland theory was floated way back when he originally showed up, and people generally dismissed it with the idea that the tags wouldn’t lie in that particular way (having two different tags to refer to someone at the same time).

      1. Random832

        Found it http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/landed/ – he’s all over the comments, including “we only know his name ‘cuzza the tags”, so that’s not new either.

  71. Leorale

    They look the SAME:
    http://www.dumbingofage.com/2016/comic/book-7/01-glower-vacuum/balances/

    1. Leorale

      LELAND LELAND LELAND, it’s totally him

      1. zoelogical

        leLAND

        YOU FOUND HIM

        u mad genius u

      2. Delicious Taffy

        What is this, Final Fantasy 8?

    2. AGV

      Holy molly, if that were the case…

    3. BenRG

      If so… Well, I wonder if Sal would be able to persuade her parents to offer some gesture of regret that, by not standing up to the school authorities about Leyland’s behaviour, they created a repeat felon? I doubt it; humans are good at telling themselves the lie: “No-one could have foreseen…!”

      I don’t know if this is Willis’s writing style but I can see this arc ending with Amazi-Girl, Sal, Joyce and Marcie (plus a worried Dorothy) ganging up to give Leyland his just deserts. Naturally, officialdom flocks around to protect the “fine, upstanding young man”, the son of one of Indiana’s most respected clergymen. Consequently, they are forced to use… other methods to ensure that he cannot hurt anyone ever again. Thus were formed this universe’s equivalent of The Defenders.

      Some were always destined to be heroes.

      1. zoelogical

        kill leland, a movie coming out in webcomics near you

    4. JBento

      If it IS him, something very weird happened to his nose in-between times.

      1. Fart Captor

        Hopefully it was punches. Lots of them.

        1. JBento

          You, of course, mean tripping. He’s a very clumsy individual. He keeps tripping and hitting people’s fists with his nose. That’s assault, that is.

        2. Leorale

          Little kids typically have little kid noses,even if they’ll be bigger in their early teens (Ethan) or in adulthood.

        3. Kris

          It’s not Leland. Willis said in the comments that they’re two different dudes. So unless this is some Amber/Amazi-girl D.I.D. thing. Chances are it’s not him.

        4. Leorale

          “Oops, Leland. You tripped.”

        5. JBento

          One can but hope that Leland’s life is filled with banana peels and oil slicks.

    5. Rukduk

      Son of a bongo!!!! That bastards been tormenting girls forever!!

  72. Jimmy

    I’m voting for Dicky McDickface

  73. Joe Covenant

    Why has no-one picked up on the fact that

    a) The ‘party’ knew about him.
    b) They know he’s NOT called Ryan.
    c) They must therefore know his real name.

    and yet… Even though they were *concerned* about him being all over “social media” in one of “Robin’s shirts”…

    They haven’t DONE anything about it?!

    Surely damage limitation would also result in KUDOS for them (A rare thing indeed!) if they were to hand his arse to the Po-Po

    Unless, of course, as mooted above he is ‘connected’ in some way to someone of power… but then, if it’s been all over Social Media, surely even the American Press would have picked up in that by now?

    1. BenRG

      The way that the mainstream media has learned to deal with things like this is to pretend that it isn’t happening and, if all else fails, attack the source. The term that you’re looking for is “Fake News”.

    2. thejeff

      Hand him to the police on what grounds? There’s no report. There’s no investigation. The police aren’t looking for him.
      There’s just some social media chatter. I’m all for taking that seriously, but not for taking legal action based on it.

      1. JBento

        This. From my understanding, the cops don’t need the victim to accuse the rapist, but they DO need testimony of the rape (or attempt) actually happening. And no-one is going to pick whatshisname up without the accusation anyway, because it’s a waste of time – it’s stupidly hard to make the charge stick WITH the victim accusing and testifying; without? No prosecutor is going to touch the case.

        Unfortunately, the “whatshisname-in-jail” ship, presuming it was ever seaworthy (a rather large presumption, if rape trail history is anything to go by), sunk all the way down to the Mariana trench when Joyce decided to not go to the cops pretty much immediately.

        1. Joe Covenant

          Then…
          What do we expect will actually happen?

          Yes, I was a tad flippant with the “hand him to the polis!”
          (Lots to happen prior to that…)

          But if that is NOT what is/should be the eventual outcome to this story… (given the caveats above) …then what is?

        2. Tarmaniel

          He’ll try to attack someone else and get nailed for that. That’s honestly pretty true to life, the average rapist has like 12 victims before getting caught because of how hard it is to make charges stick.

        3. JBento

          As Tarmaniel said, and seeing as Word of Willis is that no-one’s going to die in DoA, the best we can hope for is that whatshisname next attempt (rapists are VERY repeat offenders) goes horribly wrong. THEN, Joyce’s testimony (and any of previous victims) can lend credence to the charges.

        4. thejeff

          Possibly goes horribly wrong because the target recognizes him from the pictures.
          Or alternately previous victims contact them after seeing the pictures and between them there’s enough evidence now that they’ve tracked down who he is.

          More likely, the stalking leads to an incident and some evidence. We’ve still got to find out who the guy in the car was.

        5. JBento

          I agree on the possibility of the horribly wrong being, at least in part, a result of the photos. I have doubts that you’d be able to get a prosecutor to take the case at this point, regardless. Presumably, you don’t have any evidence, and he-said-they-said has been proven to NOT go well for the they.

          And, yes, we still have no idea who the two guys in the car were, though they’re probably in the know to what whatshisname being a rapist.

        6. thejeff

          Someone else could have reported and actually gotten the rape kit and all, but not been able to find him afterwards.
          It is unlikely. And not narratively satisfying.

        7. JBento

          Oh, alternatively, there’s a VERY angry Joe heading our way mid-August.

    3. zoelogical

      bc 1) they don’t have proof that he did this

      2) he is a white dude and their contingent is made up primarily of protecting white dudes

      3) their party is run on effectively pretending that women are a protected class and therefore deserve less rights

      4) a lot of people don’t believe the victim first; but either way where this is at is effective rumor-mongering

      5) there are literally so many cases of rapists getting off because the authorities don’t want this to ruin their bright futures, because that matters more than the lives they hurt i guess

      6) robin was gone and they had no guidance on what to do about anything but esp. a dude named ryan who is not named ryan but apparently volunteers for them

      1. Bicycle Bill

        reference to #4 — there have been far too many times (the Duke lacrosse team incident about ten years ago is one of the best known) where everybody *DID* believe the supposed victim, resulting in the (falsely-accused) suspects – the *real* victims – having their lives turned upside down and leaving their reputations in tatters even though it did eventually come out that the original accusation was indeed false.

        Might also be a little bit of the mindset exhibited at Penn State during the Jerry Sandusky/JoePa scandal; everybody closing ranks and protecting their own because “our people wouldn’t do something like that!”

        1. Cerberus

          Not really. The Duke Lacrosse team a) did do something fucked up even if it didn’t end up being sexual assault with vaginal penetration b) have become the poster child of “wrongly done white men harmed by evil women crying rape”.

          Like, their reputation is fucking great now and mentioning it is sure to get you tons of sympathy for what you “suffered” having people assuming you were creeps who mistreated women (which they were). And no one even remembers their name.

          Compare that to a high-profile individual in a rape case and even if it happened and there’s a conviction at the end, that person tends to get heavily harassed by the town or country and they are assumed to be less trustworthy or “dangerous” because “she gets guys locked up”.

          Many often lose livelihoods even years later and often have dedicated MRA stalkers who just spend their time harassing and trying to get fired women who admit to being raped.

          And that’s before noting all the PTSD.

          And yeah, the vast majority of time, it’s rape survivors being disbelieved. It happens to a terrifying amount. It’s why most of us not only not report it, but many are hesitant to talk about it in public for fear of being treated worse for having suffered it.

        2. zoelogical

          honestly there are far too many more cases of women being terrified to come forward because even the possibility of a false accusation is enough to ruin your life/career

          i mean like: ideally: the position would be not to take a position, but offer the victim necessary aid and then investigate: but that is in a perfect world, where people actually go to jail for rape, and we’ve invested money into rape prevention and consent education, and the thousands of rape kits sitting dusty in evidence lockers have been mostly gone through, and people offer help before asking questions, and people’s safety is put before people’s egos

          somehow it’s worse to accuse someone of rape than to be accused of rape because it rocks the boat and that’s not ok

  74. L!ghtn!ng

    Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa???

  75. Dariu55

    OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SNAP! Plot twist!

  76. Vulcanodon

    https://youtu.be/kmMYFEsl-B0

    1. Vulcanodon

      ^^^ My reaction

  77. Tomas

    “According to the sign-in sheet his name is Heywood Jablome.”

    1. BenRG

      The moment when the whole thing snaps into focus and Robin realises how no-one has noticed she’s spent her entire political career faking it.

      1. zoelogical

        this would be, because, everyone is faking it twenty-four/seven

  78. JBento

    Oooooooh, plot twist *gets a bucket of chocolate icecream*

  79. Axel

    That’s why I always preferred “Old Gashface”.

  80. Remmington Steele

    “Would the tags lie.”

    G’damnit Willis.

  81. General Tekno

    Further thinking about my musing re: Ryan being a LAST name and not a first…

    Willis DID have a Bill O’Reilly pastiche in his other comics named Bart O’Ryan.

  82. BBCC

    Okay, so possibilities

    1) Ryan gave a false name to the campaign so they don’t know his name IS Ryan (possibly because he was searching for a mark).

    2) Ryan told his friend to call him by an alias.

    3) Ryan is the getaway driver’s name and AG and Sal were mistaken.

    4) Freida’s full of shit and just doesn’t want to start examining a guy who may have connections (if he told the truth about his dad being a pastor, depending on where he lives, that may be no small thing).

    5) Ryan is a middle or surname.

    Though I have hope that the campaign does have his real name (or hopefully a trackable one).

    1. Bicycle Bill

      I figure it’s number one.  I have used an alias on occasion as well.
      And I want to make it clear that it was not for nefarious purposes.

  83. Michael Ramsey

    His real name is Leland. Calling it now. Good family, good student, promising future….

  84. abczyx

    Because a guy who commits crimes like that would actually give his real name most of the time.

  85. Falling Star

    swear to god if his name is mokkun

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