151

Robust
Posted on May 17, 2013 by David M Willis

151 thoughts on “Robust”

  1. Jen Aside

    “roBUST”

    1. Jen Aside

      I keep thinking “Black Daisy” now o_O

      1. Shade

        Bambalamb?

        1. Yotomoe

          She really gets me high. Bambalamb.

        2. Boom

          But is she from Birmingham? Bambalam.

        3. Yotomoe

          All the way down in Alabam’. Bambalam.

        4. Dudeface

          She’s so rock steady. Bambalam.

        5. Zoey

          How are you guys living with yourselves…..

        6. james

          Well she’s shaking that thing. Bambalam.

        7. Totz the Plaid

          …you’re all thinking of “Black Betty”.

        8. Yotomoe

          We know what it was, but it sounded similar enough that we could make a joke, ya silly.

        9. james

          No internet for You!

    2. JBO

      Beat me to it.

      1. Felix Kütt

        +1

        1. Felix Kütt

          aka. raw bust.

    3. GoldStarz

      She’ll roBust his face up if he doesn’t give her an A

  2. Doctor_Who

    Now, are we SURE that this Sal doesn’t have superhuman abilities? I mean, she can climb walls, is apparently way heavier than she should be, and seems to completely change body types every time she puts on her Amazi-Girl costume.

    1. Regalli

      Her true superpower is the power of SCRUNCHY.

      1. Boom

        A power too often underestimated. I once [redacted] with the [redacted] right in his face!

      2. Neospector

        I have to ask, what is your picture from, Regalli?

        1. Regalli

          The DC Nation Amethyst of Gemworld shorts. Should be available on DC’s website, I believe, and if not I’m fairly certain they’re all up officially on Youtube and are certainly there unofficially.

    2. croisvoix

      And changes race when she puts it on too

    3. Bekah

      It is entirely possible that she learned those climbing skills in a perfectly legitimate way (eg: her father moonlights as a jewel thief, and was going to pass his trade down to her, but then she held up that liquor store); the immovability is a result of Jason’s weakness and not her heaviness; and the body type thing obviously comes from… um… her genie. Yeah. That’s what the spider tattoo means. She has a genie.

      1. All-purpose guru

        She learned them getting out of the Catholic boarding school’s dorms.

      2. Erika Hammerschmidt

        I love your Emily icon. (That is Emily, right?)

    4. Plasma Mongoose

      She mutated as the result of using a mobile phone that leaked radiation.

    5. Yotomoe

      She’s from the south. We can do anything.

      1. saltchocolate

        woot!

      2. Thor

        Must…leave..straight line…alone…

        1. Doctor_Who

          I know, right?

      3. Ivan

        Southerners DO things?

        1. xKiv

          No, they can.

    6. Kernanator

      You can’t move da BLOB!

  3. mrlshade

    Re Panel 2: Now I’ve REALLY seen ANGRY! WOW!

    1. Plasma Mongoose

      You wont like her when she gets angry.

      1. timemonkey

        Makes her look like angry Walky.

        1. Boom

          Now that we’ve seen her with not-straight hair I can see how people would mistake them for each other.

      2. Shade

        She get’s roboust when she’s angry.

        1. Yotomoe

          She gets kinky when she’s angry.

    2. Maja!

      I’ve seen a cat! (The lines on her cheek are whiskers…)

  4. Heavyoak

    “robust” is his nickname for her tits.

  5. Plasma Mongoose

    You better watch out Jason, or you will experience a stiff uppercut.

    1. Yotomoe

      Followed by a pain indescribable by words.

  6. Wonder Wig

    Sal is a rock. She is an iiiiiiiiiii-iisland.

    1. Vabolo

      And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries.

  7. Alex Stritar

    Bet she has them stashed all over the campus as well. (Seriously, how has it come to the point where two consecutive Sal appearances have reminded me of Pinkie Pie? Is this the part where I type Damn You Willis!?)

  8. Mkvenner

    This is just sad. 😐

    1. Gil

      Right?

  9. Shade

    Sorry Sal, but Jason’s bowtie is a bowtie of principle it can’t allow Jason to give you an A for sleeping with him.

    1. Boom

      Because bowties are cool.

    2. Raen

      If he had principles, he wouldn’t have slept with her in the first place.

      1. Li

        This.

      2. xKiv

        The bowtie of principle came undone, preventing it from granting its power to him.

    3. Bill M.

      I also love that Sal thinks she put up an “A”-worthy effort.

      She may have given Jason an awesome time, but unless she did things I can’t mention right now because I’m on a public computer, she would’ve upgraded it only to a C… maybe a B.

  10. piemanpie24

    It kinda looks like something naughty is happening in the last panel.

  11. timemonkey

    Damn it, Sal, why are you this stupid. I mean, I don’t expect good judgement from, well, anyone but this is extra stupid. Did you think suddenly getting good grades will go unnoticed? or that not actually knowing how to do the work won’t backfire? Or that you’ll just sleep your way through every future math class? How did you ever get out fo religious punishment school?

    1. Yotomoe

      Running away?

      1. Boom

        Yes, she ran away from school to go to college… that makes total sense!

        1. Yotomoe

          Well…it’s like…running away from alcatraz to go to a state penitentary. I mean…it’s still prison but…way less brutal.

    2. Wazza

      she slept her way out, I guess.

      1. Raen

        Damn horny nuns.

  12. JBO

    I can’t decide if this is hotter than her normal hair style.

    1. Yo

      I’ve concluded that they are both equally hot hairstyles.

      1. Aeyt

        this is Sal we’re talking about. there is no way to unsexy her, short of massive disfiguring. Only crazy Penny is sexier, IMHO. Love those crazy redheads.

  13. 31stwalker

    Now that’s a rage face if I ever saw one!

  14. Z3tto

    Seems like, regardless of the context or circumstances, “You are robust” is one of those things that you never want to say to a woman.

    1. Yotomoe

      That and, “Wow, you look much older than you actually are”. Or the ever popular “yes, those pants do make you look fat”.

      1. Boom

        “I can see how people might mistake you for your mother…”

        On the phone. I never got to that part though.

        1. Raibean

          “You smell like my grandma”

      2. All-purpose guru

        My, what a sturdy woman. –Judge Harry, Night Court

      3. David

        “I think the pants look fine on you.” And if you are lucky, she’ll never realize what you have been saying.

      4. Roborat

        My response to that question always is: It’s not the pants that make you look fat.
        .
        .
        .
        Much later, when I regain consciousness, I question why I always answer the question that way.

    2. TinHeart

      A bit uncommon an iteration, definitely, but why is calling someone strong supposed to be a ‘don’t do it’ thing?

      1. isitsevenyet

        Perhaps it could be easily misunderstood to be hinting that she is masculine.

        1. Comrade

          If someone immediately associates ‘strong’ as ‘masculine’ and takes offence to it, that sounds like their problem, not that of the person trying to compliment them :v

        2. Li

          I think the idea that strong = masculine is less a problem than the accompanying idea that weak = feminine. Being strong should be a sign of bring an especially awesome human being, period.

      2. begbert2

        I’ve heard robust as a synonym for “big”. Read: fat.

    3. MenachemSchmuel

      “You performed poorly” is probably another one of those things

  15. Ridureyu

    Honestly, if she fails the text, and he gets fired, that’s not the worst possible outcome.

  16. addude

    It’s going to end up with them having sex again, aren’t they?

  17. raijink

    Headcanon: Sal didn’t have her own scrunchy on-hand. She pulled one off the head of another student on her way down from her seat.

    1. Psycho

      I can see that happening.

      1. Yotomoe

        Her hair naturally tied itself back…with BLACK magic.

        1. Narf

          Ha ha I see wut you did thar 😀

  18. MarcinMN

    You performed poorly…. And you didn’t do so well on the test either! 😉

    1. Tristan J

      http://www.hiyoooo.com/

  19. Uniqueantique

    Jason didn’t notice she was ‘robust’ in their previous more intimate engagement?
    Between charging Jason from her seat, to his position, she had time for the hair tieback?
    Guess that ‘secret homework assignment’ is out of the bag.

    1. isitsevenyet

      It only takes a few seconds to wrap a scrunchie around your hair, particularly if you’re not too picky about how it turns out. In this case, I imagine Sal just wanted it out of her face and somewhat contained.

  20. LS

    I’m not 100% why, but Sal has never been as attractive to me as she is in this comic.

    1. Boom

      That creepy face staring at me is doing nothing to mitigate the ‘ew’ factor of that reply.

  21. Alain

    The correct term is “uplifted”, if I am to believe David Brin.

  22. 6n0m0n

    Most adorably severe expression in #3

  23. Link

    She seems more like a reverse Pinkie Pie, to me. Hair’s straight and in control when she’s happy, and all kinds of super crazy when she’s mad.
    Either that, or she’s reached Super Sal, augmenting her power tenfold. But that doesn’t make sense since she’s still got brown hair.

  24. Darth Cariss

    I don’t like Sal’s Robin/Roz hair. It makes uncomfortable.

    1. Darth Cariss

      makes ME* uncomfortable. Darn lack of edit button.

    2. timemonkey

      I don’t like it because I think it looks ugly.

    3. BigMadDraco

      Looks more like Lucy hair to me.

  25. Kernanator

    Sal, you should know better than this. Get him to agree to it in writing, then you’ll have him!

    I mean, at least get a spoken promise out of him. Sleeping with him and expecting him to give you good grades afterward without saying what you want in concrete terms is just poor negotiation.

    1. Yotomoe

      When you assume, you make an ass out of Yumi.

      1. HMRC4EVR

        Heya Yotomoe! Better leave Yumi outta this or Ulrich is going to punch you in the face.

        (I’m going to have to explain this, aren’t I?)

        1. Regalli

          Why should he? It’s not like they’re dating. They’re just friends. Really.

          Friends who really need to kiss already and do we have to get the singing crab and boat ride to spell it out for those two idiots?

  26. Aeron

    Oh God, Sal, KEEP. THAT. HAIR!

  27. saltchocolate

    This is very different from what’s happening to Sal and Jason right now over in Roomies!

  28. Sock

    He says “come with me,” but isn’t that what started this mess?

  29. Acidarms

    im still going with they end up getting it on again during or after the discussion.

  30. scev

    This is, definitively, every grad student’s worst (Best? Worst. Worst best.) nightmare.

  31. Charles RB

    “because you performed poorly.”

    OOOHHHH

    1. Notebooked

      This and the ‘Come with me’ comment above. Oh man, you people.

      1. Andiemus

        What do you mean, ‘you people’?

  32. CRtwenty

    Is it bad that I’m going to donate to the kickstarter just on the off chance that the $75k reward is a Straight Hair Sal/Frizzy Hair Sal pairup?

  33. TinHeart

    Really Sal? You honestly slept with him because you expected him to pass you for it? Really?

    Ethics aside, you might have thought to make your intent a bit clearer. Assumptions only make an ass out of you and Jason! Guy can’t be expected to read minds. (Or violate the Code of the Bowtie)

    1. TinHeart

      Aaaaand ot but despite the fact that this gravatar is kinda fitting for this comment, is there anyway to change it that *doesn’t* involve having to get a wordpress account?

      1. Mrelegos

        It’ll change on its own eventually, once Willis changes the list of gravatars in pool.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        I’m afraid not, I had to open a WordPress account to keep using my gravs.

      3. Notebooked

        You can change it to another randomly assorted Grav by using another e-mail account for your comments. If If you’re unlucky, though, it’ll be the same one. I don’t know of any other way.

        1. Notebooked

          Is this one of those things where someone asks “how do I get to the stadium” and three different people give three different answers?

        2. Plasma Mongoose

          “There is more than one way to skin a cat.”

  34. Notebooked

    Thing number one: I’m sort of dissappointed Sal only slept with him for the grade. I thought she’d genuinely just stopped bothering and wanted to, uh, relax. Then again, I guess it kind of fits in with her using rampant violence to get what she wants, too–that’s also questionably ethical, but it works, so she doesn’t care.
    Thing number two: Dear god that hair is fabulous. More of this please.
    Thing number three: Compare Sal’s face in panel 2 with Jason’s face in panel 4. Soul-maaates!

    Sal is…troubled! Is the best word I can use. Her goals are improved (or possibly the same? I don’t know if she was that intent on passing the class before Joyce poked her to do it, but it seems like the reason she’s so dedicated to passing the class out of her urge to prove that she’s not stupid or worthless) but her means are the same. I’m still pretty hopeful for her, though, since she seemed able to channel that furious dedication/stubbornness into studying for at least a while until she decided to take another way.

    It feels pretty presumptous to assume she’s slept with people for rewards before, but on the other hand she seemed pretty casual about it. I just hope that Jason’s refusing to play along with this means she turns her raging fury unto the task of doing right the right way, rather than possibly attempting to blackmail him for the grade.

    1. CRtwenty

      I agree. Sal attempting blackmail would completely ruin my opinion of her. I’m hoping Jason manages to set her straight on that at least.

      1. Andiemus

        Oh, and thinking that screwing Jason for grades which would get him in a LOT of trouble because she couldn’t be assed to study didn’t?

      2. Logician

        My opinion of them both fell pretty low when they did it. She was clearly expecting more than he was offering, and he should have seen this coming. If you’re going to break a rule, you need to consider the reason for the rule in order to avoid the consequences.

        I’m convinced that this is the overall theme of the comic, and the reason for the title. All the relationships are based on poor communication and misunderstandings, because the characters are young and dumb. The fun will be watching the consequences unfold, and seeing if the characters can learn from their mistakes.

        1. redbird

          I’ve no idea of Willis’ intent with this story-line, but its dealing in BAD stuff. This confrontation illustrates two reasons each, but there are several reasons Sal shouldn’t have and at least 7 reasons Jason shouldn’t have. Their hookup was unethical AND unwise on both their parts AND he’s greviously unprofessional and if he ends up having his tushie tossed from the University then he earned it: GRAD STUDENTS HAVE NO BUSINESS SEXING WITH UNDERGRADS THEY ARE TA’ING–even if it looks consensual at the time.

    2. AgentKeen

      I’m completely with you on Thing number one. Even going back to re-read the pre-doodlin’ events, it really looked to me like she just wanted an outlet.

  35. Zoey

    Old chap do you even lift heavy objects against the force of gravity?!

    1. Andiemus

      Knave, dost thou even hoist?

    2. Ivan

      Only with a block & tackle… which has great story potential!

  36. XMD

    Space the dang clown already. He’s not human!

  37. Groove

    This isn’t the end of the story this week! Saturday update!!!!!!

    Weeeee

    1. Z

      Except Saturdays comic consists entirely of Jason struggling to move a furious Sal for six panels and failing. 🙂

      1. Notebooked

        “Rhghh…rhhhgg…hnngh! Grr…fnnhl…GRAH!”
        “Ya need any help there, Big Ben?”
        “Rgngh–hnfh. Help would be appreciated.”
        “Tough.”

  38. Jimmy

    Panel 2…Sal will kill everything in her path!

  39. Daenel

    Wait,.. This Group doesn’t have their powers?
    Was I the last to know?

    MEH.

  40. Smoot

    What’s to take her aside and have a difficult conversation about? “You can’t screw your way to passing grades, here” takes, like, a second.

    1. begbert2

      “Then I’ll be back in ten minutes with your pink slip.” Our foolish teaching assistant’s only hope is to legitimately convince her that he at no point was misleading or taking advantage of her, and that she cares enough about him to agree not to paint him in that light to his employers.

      1. TheEyes

        Not really. I mean, the whole point here is that he is *refusing* to change her grade because they slept together; that’s exactly the opposite of what is a firing offense at most universities. The only possible wrinkle here is if she’s still seventeen, and he’s more than however-many-years-older that makes it statutory rape, and if that’s the case he has more to worry about than being fired.

        1. Raen

          This is a mess the school probably doesn’t want on their hands, even if they technically can’t fire him “for” it. If there’s nothing in policy (and there likely is, either a categorical prohibition or a vaguer rule), they’d probably just declare him “unneeded” if they got wind.

  41. Red Robot

    I find Jason’s expresssion in panel 2 fascinating. An flash of hurt, angry disappointment just before the dread sinks in. He knew that things had been about the grade all along, but had refused to believe it. This is the precise instant in which denial cannot be sustained anymore… Or am I reading too much into the panel? Anyway, I find that expression just as awesome as Sal’s sheer rage.

    1. begbert2

      To me it’s “Wait, she thought she was bribing me for a grade? Oh shit.” I don’t think that until this moment he thought it was anything but a moment of passion.

  42. taekwondogirl

    It’s getting increasingly hard to like Sal..

    1. David

      Jason is also getting increasi– okay i’ll stop there

      1. taekwondogirl

        pffff

  43. Crimson Doom

    “I thought I upgraded myself…”

    http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JlnlUJ99-Hs/UY-1VUlWuTI/AAAAAAAAAMo/fybvLbLfl7I/s1600/homepage.jpg

  44. Bunk

    How long has “Buffer watch” been there?

  45. Shariku Onikage

    Emergency ponytail!

  46. begbert2

    “You’re comfortable here? Okay then, you just stand around here if you like. I’ll be in my office if you actually want to talk about this.”

    1. John

      … Where Penny, who had already assumed that we’re ‘bumping uglies’, or whatever quaint term you Yanks use, is currently holding office hours and you know what? Here is fine.”

  47. Jay

    Ohh no…..I hope Jason enjoyed having functioning testicles xD

    1. turkishproverb

      Panel 2 implies he did.

  48. skillions

    Sal’s forehead kind of shrank in this one

  49. DT

    PLEASE tell me Sal will keep this hairstyle for the remainder of the series.

  50. rachel

    re-read! so interesting to go back and see all of the comments about hair, given the race-related comics we see later in Family Weekend. I also find it remarkable the physical power that men, white men, express over bodies of women & WoC, which Sal FIRMLY rejects, so, fuck yeah to that.

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