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Smells
Posted on April 13, 2025 by David M Willis
The Dumbing of Age Book 14 Kickstarter continues!  Unlocked now is an incredibly well-timed one-two punch of the HALLOWEEN BILLIE and HALLOWEEN RUTH magnet tiers!  Get either of them with a book!  Get both of them together with your book!  All three options are available! And all three options come with a free DOROTHY magnet, dontchaknow.

138 thoughts on “Smells”

  1. Sirksome

    Ew. Jason is oily. Not info I needed.

    1. Dara

      two words

      “back pimples”

      1. Dara

        i bet when he rolls over it sounds like bubble wrap under a steamroller

        popopopopopopoopopopopopooppopop

        1. TGS

          I am simultaneously repulsed, sicked, nauseated, and (most of all) impressed at this description.

        2. Jamie

          Horrifyingly delicious.

        3. IntangibleMatter

          Thanks, that was the worst thing I’ve had the misfortune to read today. I’m impressed and repulsed.

        4. luin

          evil thing to write

        5. Dara

          Thank you! 😀

        6. NGPZ

          you’re lucky I was on three glasses of sweet Jewish wine when I read this XD

        7. Mturtle7

          Comments like this are why I look at the comments section of this comic. Where else could I get such a exquisite blend of horror, disgust, disdain, and awestruck admiration?

      2. Steamweed

        The bane of pimpled people everywhere: pimple-popping people.

        (oh the horror)

      3. Taellosse

        I want to Report this comment, but feel it would be ethically wrong (though richly deserved all the same). Curse you!

    2. Sirksome

      I’m a little surprised actually. Jason comes off as a guy that cares about his hygiene enough to have a skin and hair care routine. Is it genetic? Are the Bowties (I assume his last name is Bowtie because I forgot what it actually is and am too lazy to look it up.) an oily family? It’s 2025 bro. Men can moisturize without fear. Don’t be a Walky.

      1. AK

        I mean he well might be, but some people’s bodies are just like that unfortunately.

        1. Clif

          His last name is Jason. He comes from a long and proud line of Jasons.

          His first name is Fred. Fred Jason.

      2. Marsh Maryrose

        Oily guy from an oily familly here and yes, at least sometimes it’s genetic. Some of us are just born more sebaceous than others. For all the skin and hair care one does during the day, when the head is on the pillow and the body is in the sheets, there’s going to be some sebum secretion

        1. Steamweed

          Diet also plays a part. Sadly, some dietary solutions aren’t always affordable or feasible.

        2. zee

          A satin bonnet/scarf should help with the hair part at least. More non black people should wear bonnets and head scarves to sleep. Silk/satin pillowcases don’t absorb oils but I can’t speak to their comfort

      3. anon

        @ sirksome: well i imagine his ‘oily’-ness might just be some skin issues as opposed to someone like walky who doesn’t wash enough to get a ‘zit on his taint’ or whatever that was a strip early on

      4. Psychie

        I have incredibly oily skin, it’s a gigantic pain in the butt when I try to put on makeup for my LARP because my makeup pen doesn’t want to write and the makeup is gone within a few hours. I’ll shower and do an extremely thorough scrubbing for around an hour, and by the time I’m putting on the makeup a couple hours later my face is so oily I need to take a paper towel and scrub it again at the sink. The last time I wound up needing to scrub the oil off again before I even finished applying the makeup and I’d be surprised if applying what I need takes more than three minutes (I haven’t exactly timed it, but it doesn’t take a long time to draw some blue lightning bolts under my eyes, lol).

        If there’s a skincare routine that could reduce how oily my skin is… well I probably wouldn’t bother most days because most days it doesn’t really matter, but I’d at least be interested to know about it. But I would argue that a skincare routine is *not* “basic hygiene” as there is no health concern to having flawed skin. Take a shower, wash your hands, brush your teeth, and wear clean clothes, that’s basic hygiene, the rest is about appearances, not cleanliness.

      5. Madock345

        She might just be ragging on him for using too much hair gel

      6. Bisenija

        Oily bongo here: it can ABSOLUTELY be genetic. I have a thorough daily shower routine, I have a skincare routine (just to make sure I’m not actually drying out my skin so it produces oil in overdrive to compensate, since that can be an issue for some), still an oily bongo. Some people are just like that.

      7. crow

        Maybe his routine involves natural oils as moisturizers. Jojoba, coconut, and the like.

  2. Yumi

    Credit union, duh

    1. ABunchOTrees

      Cry-dit union?

      1. Opus the Poet

        You have won, take this internet as your prize.

      2. Steamweed

        Well, that pun just tears it.

        (all in the pronunciation, y’see)

      3. Clif

        Nice!

      4. HueSatLight

        Stay liquid, it’s better for your deductions. That’s the saline point.

    2. Needfuldoer

      They’re much better than the nationwide banks.

  3. NGPZ

    *plays “Left Bank Two” by The Noveltones on hacked muzak*

    1. Dara

      queues up 96 tears about 25 times on the diner jukebox with one (1) play of no more crying about two thirds of the way through.

      1. Daibhid C

        I was thinking “Tears on My Pillow” (not necessarily Kylie’s version, but that’s the one I found a video for), but maybe that’s too obvious.

  4. Bedovian

    Ah I love the smell of toxic yuri in the morning.

    1. RassilonTDavros

      Agreed! Though it’s not morning for me.

      1. Jamie

        It’s always morning somewhere.

    2. Dante

      Love the smell of toxic Yuri on a dreary midnight
      Right before I sleep

      1. Effie

        … nevermore?

  5. Pocky

    Tear disposal services aren’t usually free

  6. Rosicrucian

    Go to therapy for real, Billie.

    1. Jammy

      As long as it’s mostly off-panel. We got way more interesting characters to develop.

      1. Jamie

        I think we’ve had, like, 2 strips worth of anyone actually being in therapy. I wouldn’t worry.

    2. anon

      i mean i’m sure half the cast needs therapy but not a guarantee the therapists they see are helpful

  7. Suet

    Feelings were an exotic luxury, and so is that T-M-I ?

    No we are not going to make Jason dress up this Halloween as a bottle of *checks notes* penetrating oil?

  8. Taffy

    Dating a greasy Englishman. What a world.

  9. Bootshivers

    Jason doesn’t deserve this tbh

    1. Jammy

      He’ll probably get deported soon, so there’s that.

      1. Charles Phipps

        No, he’s an upper class white man. They won’t let him leave.

        He may be forcibly assigned to be Elon’s friend.

        1. 3oranges

          Nobody deserves that tbh.

        2. Cloud

          A fate worse than death

        3. Arianod

          *shudders* No, no. That’d be too much even for Willis.

        4. Steamweed

          Oh no poor Jason! :O

      2. Li

        I don’t think Trump’s deportation efforts are really, shall we say, prioritizing white men from England.

    2. Sirksome

      He deserves this and to step in fresh dog poop one morning a week…..Jason’s kind of lame is basically what I’m saying here.

      1. Clif

        Insert ablest rant here which subverts its message by being much worse.

        1. Clif

          Well, either that or a joke about dog poop making you lame. But finding a way to make it work takes to much thinking at the moment. Brain is not in thinking mode this morning.

        2. Thomas

          Look, if Jason were in a wheelchair, the dog poop would still not be a pleasant experience. Probably worse, I’d think.

        3. Throwatron

          He WILL take his first steps, after years of physiotherapy. And those steps WILL be into a huge, steaming pile of dog poop.

  10. Dante

    Ow I can’t even join in dunking on Jason

    This knifed me and twisted the blade y’all

  11. Charles Phipps

    It’s a shame we didn’t get more Ruth and Jason.

    My conspiracy theory that Willis would easily debunk by saying it’s not true (because it isn’t), is clearly he’s worried that if he showed more of them then the fans would get too attached to them as a couple.

    1. Thag Simmons

      Don’t say it’s over ’til it’s over.

    2. John Campbell

      I dunno, I never managed to get attached to Jason/anyone in the other universe, and that one was, somehow, more sympathetic than this one.

      On the flip side, I’m already more invested in Tony/Sarah than I ever managed to be in Tony’s whole tragic story in the Walkyverse.

      1. Charles Phipps

        Random aside: I feel bad for Beef getting erased from existence by the Time Variance Authority.

        1. HueSatLight

          Beef will return in “Tony’s Problematic Friend”

        2. Thag Simmons

          Given that Tony is on the football team and our only other named member is a recurring dirtbag redshirt I suspect it will be Tony’s problematic friends

        3. Sol

          Beef has 10 comics that he shows up to according to the tag system, though never really in the limelight, more background. He’s a complete piece of shit, though.

        4. Charles Phipps

          Also Linda’s son.

          Which I conflated with Tony for some reason.

        5. Laura

          Hmm? I thought Walky is Linda’s only son?

        6. Charles Phipps

          Beef is her son in another universe.

        7. thejeff

          Sal and Beef were switched at birth in the Walkyverse. Here there’s no known connection between Beef and Linda.

        8. Laura

          Whoa!

        9. Li

          As far as WE know!!!!

          (But no, I sincerely doubt Willis intends to reveal something like that. Linda is already awful enough without adding infidelity or a secret second family.)

        10. HueSatLight

          He plays a slightly larger role in one bonus strip.

        11. John Campbell

          All of Beef’s roles are large roles.

    3. Shakes

      I dunno, if I had the power to make fictional girls kiss Id be making fictional girls kiss over other choices.

    4. Steamweed

      Oh lords don’t say that! ‘Cause then Willis will actually show much more Ruth and Jason. And sneakily sympathetically and emotional and we’ll all be like “Oh I love this couple so much!”. And then Willis will Willis it all up and we’ll all be “Whyyyy!” and be all whiney and mopey. Ugh, no thanks. I got my dignity.

      (okay, yeah, i’m lying about the dignity part. the rest is totally plausible.)

      1. Clif

        I was going to say. Walky might have more dignity than we have here in the comments.

    5. DashWallkick

      I mean we haven’t seen much of Danny or Booster lately either, sometimes he hasn’t thought of what to do with them or the storyline is further in the future. No reason to think there’s some grand plan if they’re just in the background rattling around.

      1. Laura

        *they

        1. Taffy

          Oh, did Willis go full They?

        2. Laura

          I thought so from other comments, but I could be wrong.

        3. Laura

          Oops! No, sorry, I stand corrected.
          Willis’s BlueSky profile still reads, “he/they”.
          Sorry, DashWallkick and Taffy!
          My apologies, to Willis and everyone!

        4. Li

          Yeah, it’s he/they. I mostly use they, so I’m sure I’m contributing to the sense that Willis is they-only, but I have other reasons (like wanting to normalize they to my own brain, and Willis being one of few they people that I talk about a lot in the third person, if that makes sense???) (and also they is still a fairly new pronoun for Willis, so it helps me internalize it to stick with it), but Willis has never indicated any preference that I’m aware of, including the semi-common preference among multi-pronoun users for people to switch it up.

          (I myself ask folks to use “them” for me most often, but I actually really like xe/xir/xirs/xim… I just don’t really expect anyone to remember that.) (pronounced like ze (rhymes with “they”), zeer (rhymes with “hear”), zim (like the eponymous Invader Zim MC))

  12. UrsulaDavina

    Can we get more of Sierra and her polycule, please? They seem like the most functional and emotionally healthy people in this entire comic universe. Meanwhile, my own life is disintegrating at record speed—mostly thanks to the fascist cosplay nightmare that is the Trump-Musk axis of evil.

    So yeah, I’d love to live vicariously through some happy, well-adjusted people right now. Obviously, Mr. Willis is under no obligation to cater to my collapse, and I deeply respect the story as it unfolds. I’m just venting. Also Serria likes Dr. Pepper.

    1. Thag Simmons

      I feel like the second the camera gets pointed at functional and emotionally healthy people they’re going to stop being that in dramatic ways that create a clear story.

      1. UrsulaDavina

        I guess write it out in a long run on sentence as long as it’s one sentence they can’t be ruined.

      2. DashWallkick

        Yeah this is the truth behind stuff like “what about The Substance except the lead goes to therapy.” Well, okay, then that’s a bible story for children.

      3. Throwatron

        Yeah. Asking for anybody to feature more in this comic is very cruel behavior. Mere presence on-screen in this comic actually makes you stupider!

    2. Jamie

      I’d recommend TV shows like Leverage, personally. Generally upbeat tone despite the broken people being protagonists and they’re all trying very hard to do good and succeed to some concrete degree in most episodes.

      I don’t have a list of similar shows handy, or I’d share.

      1. UrsulaDavina

        Bobs Burgers is one of those shows but I have watched almost every episode 15 times not exaggerating.

      2. Thag Simmons

        In terms of shows’ kind of like Leverage, the Pitt just wrapped it’s first season and is very much in that vein of watching competent professional people solve problems, but it’s also a nightmare pressure cooker about the ills of modern america pushing people past their breaking point, so I don’t know if it’s what the doctor ordered for this specific request.

        Really good show though, would still recommend.

      3. Aura

        There’s a tonne of slice of life anime out there that’s just nice kids going about high school life out there if you don’t mind subtitles 🙂

    3. anon

      sounds like something that’d be a ‘patreon bonus strip’ unless the comic runs on for long enough for ‘every ‘ chara who ever appeared to get their own arc growth

    4. Steamweed

      I hear ya. The popularity of “cozy” stories (much less stressful; lower stakes; more relaxed) went off the charts during the pandemic (aka, the first trump term). And look like they’ll spike again during this term. [Legends and Lattes
      and Starter Villain being two of the most well-known cozy stories.] I’m unsure if Willis ever wants to do cozy, but I get it.

    5. Li

      Yeah, unfortunately I think you are just reading the wrong comic strip for that. I understand the feeling, even if I can’t really empathize.

      If you don’t mind subtitles, “What Did You Eat Yesterday?” (きのう何食べた？) is very cute and chill and centers on gay men in Japan. I think I’d also recommend most of Dropout’s content (Dimension 20 varies a lot), and cute reality contest type shows like “Making It” (which was steaming on Hulu, last I checked), with Nick Offerman and Amy Poehler.

      1. Li

        Also oops none of these are comics, but this and EGS are my only webcomics right now. 🙁

  13. Clif

    I’d say interest is high right now.

  14. DailyBrad

    Put ’em on Taylor Swift’s guitar.

    1. BBCC

      Awkward given who that song ended up being about.

  15. MickeeC

    Fire. Jennifer’s. THERAPIST.

    1. bhtooefr

      Kinda suspect that she quiet fired her therapist already. (By just not showing up.)

      1. thejeff

        Didn’t we have a scene recently suggesting she was still seeing a therapist?

    2. zee

      Hey therapy’s a two way street dawg, you can’t just therapize at someone. If Jennie isn’t willing to actually digest her therapists analysis and work with her, ain’t much the poor lady can do

      1. Taffy

        And for some reason, it was deemed “unethical” in “all 50 states” to feed patience snacks laced with Therafluid (patent pending).

        1. HueSatLight

          oh, is that what’s going on in Mary Worth

      2. Yumi

        Progress also isn’t linear (and often isn’t fast). Like, she’s not doing so hot right now (and been in a worse/worsening headspace for at least several days), but there have been times when she was at least more stable. (I don’t think post-timeskip was actually an improvement from where we saw here shortly before the timeskip, but the overall lows haven’t been as low until recently.)

        We also don’t know how often she sees her therapist– every other week is a common enough schedule, and a lot has been going on for her within the past week or so that she might not have even spoken to her therapist about yet.

        Basically: her therapist might be shit, or might not be a good fit for her, but the therapist could also be helping in what is a difficult and long-term process. Not enough info so far.

        1. Taffy

          Nah, better to pretend it’s not only a linear thing, but that you earn therapy points to fill up your therapy bar and level up your mental health at a fixed rate. And also that mental health looks the same for everyone.

        2. Throwatron

          And absolutely nobody ever responds to treatment badly! If you just talk to the Magic Health Wizard they will totally make your brain Normal and everyone will start to like it when you’re around! There’s zero guesswork or wasted time, and everybody has predictably great outcomes!

    3. NGPZ

      I mean this arc confirms that Jennifer’s motivation for therapy was likely the same as wanting Joyce to act as her “character witness”, for her the point was to basically get an official piece of paper to be able to say

      “see? SEE? I DID SOMETHING.” (9-9)

  16. BBCC

    Welcome to the Tears Deposit Account at Ruth Lessick National Bank!

    1. Arianod

      …the TDARLNB?

      1. Clif

        I wondered what that acronym meant.

    2. Sirksome

      Hey! You finally got Sal! Hooray!

      1. BBCC

        Indeed! The search hath ended (for now!)

    3. Deanatay

      But are they FTDIC insured?

  17. IntangibleMatter

    God dammit Ruth, go and give her a hug. She needs it.

    Also so do you.

    Jason isn’t important don’t worry about him.

  18. Tessea

    Damn, Jennifer needs a hug right now.

  19. Rabid Rabbit

    “This might be a bad time to mention this, but I bullied the hell out of goth emo kids in high school.”

    Go on, Ruth, you know you want to say it…

    (Context: https://www.dumbingofage.com/2013/comic/book-3/03-answers-in-hennessy/hurgh/)

  20. Woop de doop

    I kinda missed their banter.

  21. darkoneko

    Dunno, try the bathroom ?

  22. Alan in DC

    Jennifer, if journalism doesn’t work out for you, you have a future as a cabaret torch singer.

    Black evening gown, pearls, single spotlight in a dark lounge, a grand piano with a tuxedoed accompanist … the whole deal.

    Where else are you gonna get a chance to use a line as schmaltzy as that last one?

  23. Eric

    Billie – Please go to your local lacrimal bank. There are children desperately in need of your tears!

  24. Rabisch

    Jennifer wants to put desperation and drama back in Ruth’s life. I can’t stop to se it as a very egoistic thing to do.

    1. thejeff

      She wants drama back in her life. Desperation is already there for both of them.

  25. DashWallkick

    I’m guessing the talk with Alice did not go very well. Which means that Billie once again feels the horrible sting of rejection and self-loathing spiraling out of her, but she can’t rebrand herself again, so she goes to the one person who accepted her as she was. My next question is “literally where is this going”

    1. Yumi

      We saw how her interaction with Alice went, and no, it was not a good time for Jennifer.

    2. Throwatron

      I think the talk with Alice is entirely what we saw.

      Jennifer is currently reacting more so to Joyce’s analysis of the situation, which was also soul-crushing to her.

  26. HueSatLight

    Malaya and Jason meeting the first time:

    Malaya: You have a very punchable face.
    Jason: I’ve been told.
    Jason: Ow, fuck fuck fuck. What the bloody hell!

  27. hatman

    Jennifer Billie would have beaten up herself if she heard her saying that in high school.

    1. Yumi

      She’s beating herself up now.

  28. PB

    For those of you keeping score at home, Jason was last mentioned three months ago, but hasn’t appeared since October of last year.

    1. HueSatLight

      He’s in the trash chute.

  29. Taffy

    All the talk of “toxic yuri” lately but nobody seems brave enough to even politely request full-on Environmental Hazard Yuri, now with extra MILF radiation.

    1. PB

      It has been a while since we m addressed Robin and Leslie, hasn’t it?

      1. PB

        Darn you rogue M

        1. ZombieKyrik

          In my head “Rogue M” is now a villain, and will return when you least expect it.

  30. Amós Batista

    Oh no, the person are bringing their problems to me, again.

  31. Juanoku

    Oh this brings me back

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