132

Shaky
Posted on April 20, 2023 by David M Willis
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132 thoughts on “Shaky”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    getting bitten by a radioactive spider, nothing, just have you some Joyce-brand Neuroses™

    1. Ana Chronistic

      again, not sure if the alt-text counts as a jinx

      1. Clif

        It’s a well known phenomenon that great minds run in the same gutters.

    2. Pylgrim

      Can she climb? Listen pal, she’s got a neuroactive mind.

      1. Clif

        She was bitten by a neuroadioactive spider.

  2. NGPZ

    A bundle of nerves as usual. ?

    Girl could really use something to relax. Maybe a bubble bath, or a nice calming casual game, or some weed,

    Or maybe some more climbing on Joe. ?

    *plays “Climb Inside My World” from Nickelodeon Best Songs CD on hacked muzak*

    1. Ryan

      Dryer ride.

    2. ktbear

      Or some of Joes edibles.

      1. NGPZ

        Have an internet, earthling! ?

  3. Slartibeast Button, BIA

    Poking her with his broom? Is that what they call it now?

    1. bubba0077

      Give her a break, she’s new to the dirty talk

      1. GholaHalleck

        that’s why she needs the broom.

        1. Rabid Rabbit

          Oh, her brush needs the broomstick.

    2. Kimi

      I didn’t even catch that possible innuendo.

      1. Clif

        Sometimes a broom is just a tool.

        1. Shadowsnail

          In curling, it reduces friction and helps control the amount of curl. How much curl do we estimate they are going for here?

  4. Thag Simmons

    Girl’s giving Sal a run for her money in terms of climbing, I’ll say that for her.

  5. UrsulaDavina

    One step forward two vertical leaps up.

  6. Jo_cubstar

    How did she get up on the ceiling?

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Comedic Teleportation Powers.

    2. Thag Simmons

      bitten by a radioactive spider

      1. zee

        Bit a radioactive butt

    3. Reltzik

      Quickly.

    4. StClair

      Jump good.

    5. Liliet

      Joe is very tall

  7. Taffy

    Just grab his hair and pull it at strategic moment, like you’re ratatweeling him.

  8. Doctor_Who

    It’s clear that horniness is a more powerful force than gravity, considering which one seems to have lost its grip on Joyce.

  9. Suet

    I know that you know that the word “know” makes less sense the more Joyce says that she knows that they know what has been known – Joyce is a ticking time bomb of carnal desire after 4/20.

    And that starts by asking WHAT’S TO CLIMB IN THE CEILING

    1. Nerrin

      Probably one of those ceilings where you can push up and aside the panels to get at stuff like ductwork.

      1. Needfuldoer

        How else are you supposed to know what a TV dinner feels like?

    2. Thag Simmons

      How early on was the Tasmanian Devil gag? Feels like that was like a first year joke.

      1. thejeff

        Definitely first semester. While she was crushing on Jacob, I think.
        And way before that Jacob and Sarah joked about her snapping and sucking like a billion dicks.

        1. Amaya/Polaris

          (I wasn’t trying to flag at all, I was scrolling on my phone!)

    3. vulcanodon

      Infrastructure. Probably the retrofitted fire sprinkler pipes, or some electrical conduits.

    4. Mark

      Postmodern architecture. Ceilings are SO twentieth-century.

  10. Yotomoe

    I like to imagine Joyce skitters like a roach when you poke her.

    1. Shorduie

      I have a friend who used to do that. It was an endless source of fun until we overdid it

      1. True Survivor

        What happened then?

        1. Shorduie

          She got used to it. And then we were just poking a person who was not reacting, which wasnt really fun

        2. Shorduie

          Fuck, he/they*. Shitty memory lapse here, sorry

    2. DailyBrad

      Well, she certainly wants Joe to poke her.

  11. Just an Armadillo

    Alright Joe, this is your chance at a new start. Now catch her properly this time!

  12. Shorduie

    I gotta say, I wasnt expecting Joe to be so chill about Joyce casually naming all the many ways in which she desperately needs to fuck him. Old Joe would be selling his soul for a private bedroom with a king size bed right now

    1. Liliet

      Joe is adorably distracted with taking care of Joyce emotionally, because he thinks she’s very cute and protectable and deserves the best MORE than he’s horny. It would make HIM a nervous wreck, except Joyce is currently taking the position, so it’s really a perfect arrangment.

  13. Carms

    She’s do so well! I am surprised and impressed. She said ‘sexual being’ out loud! She’s been articulating fantasies! Maybe this is a normal trajectory for even recovering fundy allows, but I am very impressed.

  14. Kravis

    He’ll be poking her every each way, alright.

    1. NGPZ

      ? Poking on on on…
      ? Poking on on on…

  15. newlland(Henryvolt)

    If Joyce keeps the up she’s going to give Sal and Amazi-girl a run for their money for master climbers.

    1. Slartibeast Button, BIA

      Now I want DYW to put in Frederick Cassidy as an Anthropology professor.

  16. Owlmirror

    People who have climbed Joe: Dina, Joyce. Although only Dina has actually reached his summit. So far.

    Will there be base camps outside his door?

    Say, why isn’t Sal interested in him? She is on the record as liking tall, and she likes climbing as well. And yet, nothing.

    1. Yossarianduck

      Roz, Penny, Malaya…

      Call him Mt Kilimanjoero

      1. Owlmirror

        I have in mind that “climbing” is distinct from “sexing”. It can be part of sexing, of course, but climbing is done when the tall, robust person is vertical, and does not include horizontal activities. While it would be understandable that some climbing might stop at the, ahem, lower head, the true peak of climbing is the upper head.

        There’s also the point that we have seen Dina and Joyce climbing, but did not see Roz, Penny, or Malaya doing so (well, not in the regular comic — I do not have a slipshine acct)(is there a Joe+anyone slipshine?). They may have indeed done so (to the very top)(repeatedly, even), but not in the main continuity.

    2. Samantha

      Good question. imagine Joe and Sal would totally be into eachother Joe is cannon hott and we know Sal while not shallow did previously have a type. Before getting to college and starting to like dweeby white nerds like Danny and professor

    3. Tan

      I would like to remind you that Sal’s first impression of Joe was finding out what he wrote about her on The List.

      https://www.dumbingofage.com/2018/comic/book-8/03-faz-is-great/movealong/

      1. Owlmirror

        I had the vague idea that it might have been something like that, but I was too tired to research when I posted.

  17. Dana

    I know it’s generally dismissive or worse to say “so and so just needs to get laid”, but in this case it’ll probably help.

  18. Cattleprod

    … what is she even holding on to?

    1. NGPZ

      Nothing. It’s just like that scene from the exorcist. Joyce’s sexual demons are growing in power. ✌?

      1. Grayfinity

        Nah, that’s just the asbestos.

    2. Reltzik

      The panicked, blinkered mores of her evangelical upbringing, which through various anti-science initiatives have placed a ceiling on biology education.

    3. Lily

      convenient comic/plot physics 8D;

  19. Tan

    I am waiting for the pan over to Professor Brock trying desperately to go about his own business in his own classroom.

    1. GholaHalleck

      hands Joe the Drying Pan and tells him to get to work.

  20. True Survivor

    Spider-Joyce? Oh no. You better run Joe, with spiders sex often sends with the female enjoying the males liquified guts as a nice warm post-coital snack. I mean it would be very on-brand way for you to go out, but aren’t you trying to change?

    1. slarstorm

      Spider Joyce, Spider Joyce. She drives around in a… pink Rolls Royce?

      1. Leorale

        On the web, 6-ish size,
        Likes the tushies of brawny guys
        Look out! There goes a Spider Joyce

        1. Eyebrow

          Wins the internets.

        2. Shadowsnail

          Is she horny? Listen, bud.
          All her parts are pumped full of blood.

  21. HueSatLight

    beginning to think that taking Joyce to masturbate in a public place didn’t actually do anything to help with the problem she actually has.

    1. Dana

      Yet it sounds like such a perfect plan!

      1. Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)

        Joe has the power to not only relieve sexual tension, but to generate it

        And he’s got washboard abs to boot! Who needs the laundry room?!

    2. Keulen

      Kinda feels like that plan backfired, doesn’t it?

    3. Reltzik

      As usual with masturbation, it was a temporary solution.

      1. HueSatLight

        (the goal wasn’t to help Joyce with her shame response, the goal was to hurt Joe by “fixing” Joyce by making her cum)

  22. Qube

    something something spider monkey

  23. SDRainbow

    Anyone else got that one Friends promo burned into their brain

  24. Mr. Random

    Gets back to what she was saying before years ago from our perspective.
    She was taught that the “immoral” and “objectionable” being “mundane” and “normal” was what you should fear.

  25. Kristine

    yknow what maybe Joe will be good for her.

    let her lighten up a bit and not be so ashamed of her body

    1. Reltzik

      I think the best he can hope for is her being ashamed of not being ashamed of her body.

      … but given her newfound levitation powers, getting her to lighten up seems like a done deal.

  26. foducool

    she’s a gecko lmao

  27. NGPZ

    Okay am I the only one here celebrating 4/20? Don’t hang me out to dry bruhs. ?

    1. DailyBrad

      Carla’s got your back if I recall correctly. Semi-surprisingly not Sal, who isn’t especially into weed.

    2. Reltzik

      What the blazes are you talking about?

    3. Rabid Rabbit

      I have no doubt that Meredith is celebrating for everyone.

    4. Kyrik Michalowski

      Have a smoke for me, I can’t because of my new medication. Doing so with my new meds would either give me a terrible disorder or kill me. So you’ll have to celebrate extra for me.

    5. Taffy

      Nah, right behind ya. Spent all day watchin’ Ginny & Georgia, although naturally I also made sure to watch Power Rangers: Once and Always. Played the entirety of Shadow of the Colossus on stream as well, and naturally all of it has been spent toasted like a cream cheese bagel. Tomorrow will probably hold more shenanigans.

  28. Reltzik

    One of the nice things about being in a relationship with a tall guy like Joe is that it’s now easier to get things down off the top shelf. …. because you’re now up there.

  29. DailyBrad

    I feel like Dorothy getting her to get off kind of helped speed some of the process along, but she’s still got so many layers of repression to gnaw her way through, like a thick lasagna of guilt.

    1. HueSatLight

      I think the opposite happened. Getting off wasn’t ever the problem. The shame response has always been the problem. I think the talk with Becky helped, or at least was helping. Taking her to masturbate in a public place, involving herself, seems counter-productive.

      1. DailyBrad

        I don’t know that I fully agree, if only since getting off did get her to acknowledge the desire. It didn’t put any dents in the shame, though, yeah.

  30. cbwroses

    I’ve never really thought of how massive Joe (and Jacob) must be.
    I mean the cast is pretty much made up of sizes and body shapes you can find in real life, some abundantly so.
    And I am huge myself, my healthiest size being 6’3” 260 pounds as a hs football player and wrestler, and my unhealthiest being a morbidly obese 550 pounds when I was in my 30s.
    But no matter what size I am/have been, I don’t think I could hide a fully grown woman hanging off my back or have one casually climb on my shoulders, even if Joyce is a little on the small side and Dina is even more so.
    The two of them (Joe and Jacob, not Joyce and Dina) must be built like the Rock or even bigger to not only have the strength to casually pull that off, but also the mass to make it feasible.

  31. shrub

    If she’s like this over words how is she going to react when Joe’s about to rub his thing on her tummy

    1. anon

      she’d need a lot of mental preparation for sure lol. or like i can see how ppl wanna get buzzed/tipsy before hooking up but as long as it’s safe it should be fine, i can imagine it’d be hard for some ppl to be ‘spontaneous/uninhibited’ but letting go of her repression might overpower that lol

  32. Rabid Rabbit

    Panel 4 Joe: this may actually be the thing that makes me have the greatest hopes that they’ll work things out, just in that there’s a limit to how much Joe is going to let her get away with her nonsense. He’s willing to change for her, but not to the extent of refusing to point out when she’s being a nutjob.

  33. Katherine

    But it’s ok for Joe to know that she’s a sexual being?

    1. anon

      well considering she wants joe sexually but i imagine from before she assumed that joe assumed that every girl was lol

    2. HueSatLight

      She’s working on it. She’s a degree more comfortable with Joe and private matters than other people. But she did panic a bit on the way to class, acknowledging he like his tush.

  34. anon

    two steps forward one step back

  35. Amelie Wikström

    Okay the next step after you have understood your neuroses is to start dealing with them. In this case that primarily means interrogating why you think it’s SO FUCKING BAD to be a sex-having tramp/hussy/unmarried wanton/lady of negotiable affections.

    (The answer is that she was raised into a cult that trained you to be an obedient housewife who thinks fear and pain (remember the spoon beatings) is what love feels like and to feel want and attraction is to be irredeemable; but Joyce doesn’t seem anywhere near ready to deal with that. Just gotta start questioning somewhere)

  36. AbacusWizard

    • Joe starts carrying around a broom
    • Joe grows out his beard
    • Joe starts wearing a royal robe
    • Joe replaces broom with spear
    • Joe changes major to nuclear engineering

  37. Andrews

    Oh, what a feeling/wjhen we’re angsting on the ceiling

  38. Dday

    *David Attenborough voice*
    “Once again, the Common Tramp can be seen fleeing vertically into a hiding space. She is likely to persist in this behavior until she has completed the mating act with the dominant male.”

    1. Clif

      Did Joe dominate someone when I wasn’t looking?

      1. Dday

        Depends how you want to define “dominant”. In the context of an Attenborough-style documentary, “dominant male” usually means the male that gets to do the most mating

  39. Risky

    It’s good to seek enthusiastic consent but if she’s already climbed you, and pointing that out would upset her, maybe just accept her nonverbal yes?

    1. Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)

      her nonverbal yes to what? Joyce is using “climbing on Joe” as a euphemism for sex. Joe is pointing out that she is literally, nonsexually climbing on him–that she’s literally doing the thing she was using as a euphemism. The fact that she shot straight to the ceiling means that however horny she is, despite how attracted she is to Joe and how much she likes him, she has hella baggage to unpack. Joe gets that. He’s helping her unpack the shame that she feels about the feelings she has. “yes” to kissing his neck and climbing on his back is sure as fucking hell not a “yes” to sex.

      1. Net-Zero Joeyce Shipper (no engine, slowly following the current)

        Sorry for coming down this hard, “consent” being used in a vague way made me think you were referring to sexual consent. Joe pointing out the difference between Joyce’s words and actions was intended to draw her attention to how her words and her actions weren’t matching up

      2. Yeet

        presumably Risky means a yes to him, romantically?
        no need to jump to the worst assumption here

    2. Liliet

      He’s already accepted her nonverbal yes, including her subtextual yes to him saying things like that, gently prodding her boundaries and then getting her off the tall places she climbs in response.

      Note how she is not upset by him saying those things. Embarrassed, yes, but she’s already planning long-term for repeating the experience, you know?

  40. thumb

    You know, in all the advice I see about making comics, they never tell you about the benefits of using speech bubbles to hide tricky poses.

  41. Yeet

    spider-joyce, the new campus vigilante
    joe, who has enough neck muscle to maybe survive being caught by a web inconveniently if he’s lucky
    truly a match

  42. Yumi

    It’s like when my parents first took the feral cat they adopted to the vet.

    1. Pergola

      They had to broom it off the ceiling?

      1. Yumi

        The cat ran up the wall and dug its claws into the ceiling of the vet’s office. The vet said, “Is there anything you need to tell us?” And my parents said, “She’s a little wild.” And then they left, cat still oon the ceiling, and picked her up later, after they got her down possibly with a broom.

  43. motorfirebox

    One thing I like about Joyce’s arc (and other arcs, but today it’s Joyce) is the illustration of something that kicked my ass for years: knowing what your issues are doesn’t fix them.

  44. Lamppost

    I love how chill Joe is about Joyce and her quirks, and I do really want things to work out for them. However, Joe seems to have his own issues around sex and using it as a way to distance himself from others. I could imagine that he could actually have some trouble if it finally came to these to, uh, climbing each other, because in contrast to his other partners, he really cares about and likes Joyce. But it does give me hope that they are able to talk about Joyce’s sexuality openly with each other. I really really want these to to work out 😀

    1. ischemgeek

      There’s a theme with Joyce – people like Dina, Roz, and Joe tend to accept her at face value. She didn’t like them at first because they reflected parts of herself she didn’t accept yet (Joe and Roz – sexuality, and Dina – lack of faith and autistic traits) but as she challenged her problematic beliefs and grew into herself they’re the ones that accept her for who she is. Unlike the “Be yourself! No, not like that.” Squad of Becky, Dorothy and (to a lesser extent) Sarah. It’s interesting how Joyce becomes closer to those she used to think we’re a bad influence as she gets more accepting of herself.

  45. Big Z

    I’d just like to thank Willis for making my headcanon from a couple days ago , where I asserted Joyce hadn’t “run away” but was probably just clinging to a light fixture, come true.

  46. PsychoAndy

    “Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.”

  47. Throwatron

    the strip in which i am joyce and joe is absolutely my type

  48. ESM

    The best part of this strip is that you can see Joyce’s knees in the final panel, meaning that she is facing away from the ceiling and apparently just sticking to it like Spider-man instead of grabbing something

  49. Blue

    Do I smell a friends reference?

  50. Harmony

    Joyce, baby, sweetie, poor sweet child…

    I’ve been where you are, let me save you a few steps. You’re dancing around an issue. Part of your identity was wrapped up in being more “moral” than the people around you. However, now that you’ve realized those morals were false, you’re scrambling to maintain your self-perceived moral superiority. At which point, you are at a crossroads.

    You can either accept your reality as morally common-folk, or you can actually start researching morality, logic, philosophy, social psychology, etc. and learn what actual moral superiority looks like, and become that. The religious background isn’t wasted if you go the latter route, as you already have experience redirecting your base instincts for a seemingly arbitrary set of rules, which is really what it takes to achieve actual moral superiority.

    1. Liliet

      Oooooh nice.

      Makes me think of Yudkowsky though, which raises a whole new separate set of hairs on my head.

  51. Dave

    I’m really glad we were along for the whole ride to see Joe’s personality transformation. Otherwise, imagine a first time reader checking out the last few weeks of comics and then committing to go to the archive and read it all. How confusing would it be to see lecherous Joe, now?! Fascinating. I really am growing to love the big lug.

  52. Caro

    you could really easily edit this one so joyce has jocelyn hair

  53. cmd1095

    Lose an Amzi-Girl, gain a Spider-Joyce

  54. Needfuldoer

    Aw, another 4/20 goes by without a Meredith cameo…

    1. anon

      maybe it can be a patreon bonus/stretch goal for another donation lol

      1. NGPZ

        Eh, at this rate I’ll have made a game with her before that happens. XD

  55. BBCC

    Oh dear. Someone get him his copy of the Joyce’s Social Circle Broom!

  56. Felian

    it’s very promising that Joyce is talking about *fucking* Joe instead of *marrying Joe first*. Or after, because 5 second rule.

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