115

Soakin’
Posted on December 2, 2019 by David M Willis
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115 thoughts on “Soakin’”

  1. Ana Chronistic

    nice talk, Joe

    =|

    1. Deathjavu

      Those sure wore some words he said.

      1. Charles Phipps

        And your charming personality shines again.

  2. Sporky

    Wrong universe, Joe.

  3. FLUFFYWOLF

    The other shoe is about to drop for Joyce at any moment, I just know it.

    1. Tobias

      Is that the shoe with the broken toenail, or was that the first one to drop?

  4. BBCC

    Okay, who forgot to invite Marcie?

    1. Regalli

      … Oh yeah, she hasn’t really met any of the three onscreen! That needs fixing, clearly. She is the best Ringo.

      1. ValdVin

        They already had a Best (Pete Best). Maybe Joe can be him and leave now.

        1. Chris Phoenix

          Yeah, that would probably be best.

      2. Plasma Mongoose

        So who is John, Paul and George?

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Mandy is John because she’s short. Grace is Paul because she got into a car crash and was replaced by a lookalike. Sierra is George because she’s the hot one.

        2. ValdVin

          Also, if you’re going for later Beatles, Mandy wears glasses, a la John.

        3. Plasma Mongoose

          Grace is a pod person?

    2. Doctor_Who

      Hmmm, does anyone at the party really know Marcie? She’s not a student at the school, so she wouldn’t be dormmates with anyone, and Sal, Carla, and Malaya are not in attendance.

      I suppose Walky would know her, but it would be off for him to invite his sister’s friend to an event his sister isn’t attending.

      1. Deathjavu

        Joyce knows her because she asked Sal about her previously, when she went to borrow the jacket and gloves.

        1. BBCC

          Amber knows her too from roller derby.

        2. BBCC

          And I can’t imagine Sal wasn’t invited. She hasn’t shown up, but I’m sure she was invited. Becky and Joyce both like her.

        3. Diane

          Yeah, but recall the last time Sal was invited to a party…I’m not sure if she’ll come, but she might. Everyone’s had little changes since then, so…who knows?

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

        4. BBCC

          Like I said, she might show up, she might not. I’m just sure she was told she was welcome.

    3. Deathjavu

      Now that we’re talking about it – Marcie probably just has crappy retail job shift that she couldn’t swap 🙁

      1. BBCC

        I mean, realistically, yeah, she works a lot of double shifts at Target.

        Getting canned from the security gig didn’t help, I’m sure.

  5. Regalli

    Oh, Becky…

  6. shadowcell

    Homeless Disaster Lesbian is gonna be pretty good at Coachella, i can feel it

    1. Doctor_Who

      Is Garbage Roof playing? Or will they still be on tour with Blowjob Cat?

      1. mrnoidea

        THEY FORGOT DUKE OF THINGLY

        1. abysswatcher1993

          And the classic rock band Empirical Evidence, with Joyce singing “Detective Love Lesbian.”

  7. Pacce

    I feel like I’ve missed a step here. Everything with Becky and Dina seemed perfectly fine until the very moment of the party.

    1. Jo

      No, Becky showed insecurities over the relationship when she bought the giant dinosaur

      1. Pacce

        AH! Right you are, thanks. It all makes a lot more sense once I consider that, in order to get what she wants out of life and be with her girlfriend, she has had abandon any ideals or morality. So yeah, guilt!

        Now I just wonder if she resents Dina for NOT judging her for her actions.

    2. Kamino Neko

      Things between Becky and Dina ARE perfectly fine.

      That’s actually part of the problem, I’d wager.

      Becky’s self esteem is garbage, so she consistently feels she’s unworthy of Dina. And the longer Dina doesn’t realize that Becky isn’t good enough for her, the worse it’ll be when she does. So she needs to Be Perfect so she can Be Worthy of Dina.

      1. Norah

        Why would Dina think that?

        1. Br44n5m

          She wouldn’t, that’s just what the insecurity thinks Dina is thinking

        2. Kamino Neko

          Exactly.

        3. Kamino Neko

          Because Becky is a Homeless Disaster Lesbian, who is Unworthy.

          Sure, if you asked Dina what she thought on the matter, she’d disagree. But Becky’s low self esteem knows. It’s only a matter of time before Dina sees her in the Harsh Light of Day.

  8. Nono

    See Becky, the trick is we’re all disasters. Even the straights. Maybe.

    1. Carms

      UGH, ESPECIALLY the straights.

      1. FLUFFYWOLF

        the straights only seem less like disasters because barely any of us know how not to be a disaster. Or even that we’re disasters in the first place.

        1. tyersome

          So, we’re being graded on a curve then?

        2. z

          NGL, to an outside observer straight folk seem like PLENTY disasters. Can we talk about misogyny for a minute and how guys disrespect a group they spend their life with? Or how crappy straight sexuality has been for women? Or housework and childrearing disparities? (Probably feels like I’m picking on men, I honestly believe our culture hurts straight men just as much but in ways we don’t acknowledge as damaging)

          The baseline normal for heterosexuality in our culture is a disaster, IMHO.

        3. LeslieBean4shizzle

          So true.
          Women can wear literally anything we want. Any color. Pants or skirts. Fuck, I knew a girl in highschool who sewed her father’s reject ties together into a skirt. It was fucking awesome.

          Men’s clothes are SO BORING… because of restrictive gender roles.

          So join us, male types, in throwing off the shackles of the restrictive social norm! Wear any color! Throw off your butt prisons and wear skirts, dresses, or kilts!

        4. Delicious Taffy

          As a previously male-identifying, I fully endorse your message.

        5. Terry

          Oh, yes, it hurts men. From a psychological stand-point, men suppress SO MUCH. Men are encouraged not to feel emotions unless they can be channeled into aggression, meaning that guys can’t adequately express sadness, affection, fear, concern, etc. This perpetuates the stereotype that men need to be brutes. Any men who are incapable of filling this role adequately are scorned and belittled, creating severe self-esteem issues and depression from the pressure to conform to this ideal (similar to how women feel the pressure to be feminine and attractive, but slightly more constricting because women are allowed to express their emotions more openly preventing some of the culturalized mental damage). Before people jump to yell at me, I’m not saying men have it worse than women, only that in the specific area of personality, men are more restricted than women because it is ok for a woman to be tomboyish, but any little hint of perceived femininity in a man is automatically punished.

          Men are also restricted in acceptable jobs. Admittedly, the jobs that men are expected to have are more well-paying, but it still is a restriction for men to not have careers that they may be more happy with. Men are derided for having jobs as nurses, flight attendants, dancers, receptionists, fashion-designers… If a guy has these jobs, the message is that he must be gay. Look at any movie or tv show. If a straight man has these jobs as careers, it’s used as a joke to poke fun at someone for assuming. But we assume because that is what media has told us for years.

          End of the day, men may be “in charge” but that doesn’t make it a good thing. For the women OR the men.

      2. Matthew Evan Davis

        As a straight, can confirm.

      3. Keulen

        Straight guy here, definitely disaster.

      4. Plasma Mongoose

        They are often bend out of shape.

        1. Delicious Taffy

          Now, you wouldn’t be implying that The Straights, whose descriptor includes a word implying a lack of bent-ness, you wouldn’t be implying they might be occasionally bent, now would you?

    2. Delicious Taffy

      I used to think I was straight, and I’ve been a disaster since the 1990s.

    3. LeslieBean4shizzle

      **puts on College Lecturer outfit**

      Actually, “Disaster Lesbian” refers to lesbians who get tongue-tied around their female crush. It’s apparently a commonly used term, but I had to look it up the first time I saw it too.

      Apparently this stems from the idea that “normal” lesbians don’t have trouble talking to their crushes because “hey, we’re all women” so they can be super casual about it. Which is NOT my experience at all, or it wasn’t when I was dating in college. So guess I’m a “disaster lesbian” too inspite of being bi.

      Oh, and if this thread was a joke and you already knew what the term meant, then —

      **sticks out tongue, blows a raspberry, and runs away**

      1. SeasideSun

        In my experience the term “Disaster Lesbian” has kind of morphed into having trouble not just talking to crushes but also having trouble with existence. Due to mental health issues, self esteem, etc, it’s turned into a sort of “I am not successful at existence unlike other people, for example I can’t even tell when someone is flirting!”

        It’s not super healthy. Or rather, super not healthy.

        This information is coming from my experiences on tumblr and reddit with the lesbian communities there.

    4. WikiDreamer

      As one who’s considerably straight but far from appreciative of the female form and fully supportive of all non-harmful walks of life, I can 2.5M% agree: deep down, we’re all nothing but disasters just barely masking a semblance of having it together while constantly getting dragged out to surging storm waters, drowning, surfacing and drowning over and over and over again all the while choking out “I’m OK!”

  9. PHNX

    “Come together”.

    1. LeslieBean4shizzle

      “Right now”

      1. He Who Abides

        “Over me”

  10. Delicious Taffy

    So long as Becky doesn’t have a fit at Dina over this, there’s no harm in venting insecurities.

  11. Yumi

    Spend time with your girlfriend, Becky.

    1. StClair

      Can’t, she’s too busy proving herself worthy of doing that!

  12. DarkoNeko

    Joe’s usually the one spending the parties in the bedroom

    1. begbert2

      Which is the reason he’s mentioning that there’s only one, and that it’s occupied. In his mind this would be a better party if there were spaces for shagtimes.

  13. Stephen Bierce

    “Gimme a beat, Ringo! I’m ready to sing now.”–John Lennon

  14. Bagge

    JUST TAKE HER TO THE MUSEUM, BECKY!!!

    1. DarkoNeko

      “HER PLACE IS IN A MUSEUM” — Indiana Jo–Becky

  15. Danielle

    good job, i guess, joe

  16. Mra

    Yeah, a party like this seems kind of odd for the two guests of honor, neither of which are accustomed to such socialization

    1. Miri

      Hence the Quiet Room. But even though Dina finds too much socialisation overwhelming, it’s not necessarily that she doesn’t enjoy it (see: her at Joyce’s party). And Sarah is actually having a Top 5th birthday.

      Becky did a good job. But yeah, crippling insecurities…

      1. Needfuldoer

        She enjoys it in moderate doses, given enough downtime between them to fully absorb and analyze the experience.

  17. Rei

    Are you kidding? I’ve been refreshing since 12:02 am and then I make a completely new window only to see all you’re comments here.

    1. Delicious Taffy

      We’re all commenting via TARDIS, don’t worry.

  18. Tacos

    Ringo? Is this some new slang the kids are saying and I’m just old? Or is it something else and I’m just being dumb?

    1. BBCC

      Ringo was a member of the Beatles, which had four members. Mandy/Grace/Sierra is a relationship with three people and Joe wants to be their fourth.

      1. BarerMender

        Yeah, it took me a minute to figure that out. Ringo? WTF?

        1. zee

          I just assumed it was some old reference I was too baby for. Like a bad early 90s sitcom or something

    2. Delicious Taffy

      Look at this fossil, too old for Beatles jokes.

      1. Meagan

        I suspect the issue may actually be being too young

        1. Delicious Taffy

          What’s the opposite of a fossil, then? An OOPAT?

  19. Cholma

    Oh, Joe, you poor delusional fool. You’re more like a Yoko.

    1. abysswatcher1993

      I can imagine Joe in a hipster dress and doing abstract art with white stuff objects.

  20. Mistergray

    I’m gonna ask it now, has Joe become a background character?

    1. Deathjavu

      Drama = plot, and since Joe has run away at the merest hint of the former, he’s not really around for much of the latter.

      Not that I think he’s making good decisions! (Also, I’m pretty sure Joyce is going to talk to him about Jacob at some point, and he might not run away from that one.)

    2. Zatar

      Feel like a lot of characters go between somewhat significant and background depending on the arc.

    3. Nono

      Dorothy is barely as relevant these days really. It’s what happens when the plot focused on a lot of Joyce/Becky/Billie/Amber stuff.

    4. thejeff

      Joe’s always been kind of a background character – other than his one story arc. Second tier at best.
      He’s mostly only gotten focus when he’s interacted with one of the main characters.

  21. Suet

    Shan’t the Ringo in this sitch be, like, Agatha? Other Rachel? Roz???
    Cause they’re either gonna be The Ronettes or The Supremes, or The Shangri-Las or The Shirelles…

    *casually plays The Dixie Cups’ Chapel of Love on the hacked Muzak*

    (I wonder if Becky just got lucky, in a good way)

  22. auroki

    As we can see the more adult Becky thinks the closer her tie becomes to knotting itself.

    Though seriously Becky you know your girl doesn’t do social interaction well. Go find your dinobabe!

  23. abysswatcher1993

    Money, power and fame are pointless if they can’t get what you want, and Becky just wanted to make her girlfriend happy. The problem is that Dina doesn’t need all those things to be happy. She only needs Becky… and a giant dinosaur bought with blood money from a political campaign.

    1. Miri

      In fairness she didn’t need the dinosaur until she saw it…

      Have to admit, my toddler reacted almost as strongly to a giant unicorn plushie in a shop. I didn’t buy it… The 5 year old would also have wanted one had she seen it and we don’t have room for one of them let alone two!

  24. Pocky

    Joe has left the conversation

  25. Marsh Maryrose

    Joe is a walking violation of Wheaton’s Law. I wanna know who the fuck invited him to this party.

    1. Mopey

      Not seeing anything particularly dickish here.
      He approached Becky to compliment her on the party and ask about where Dina was, presumably out of some amount of concern.

      Becky decided to take that opportunity to kind of randomly fish for reassurance about her poor self-image by being self-deprecating. Yikes-ing out at that point is absolutely fine.

  26. Owlmirror

    Am I the only one seeing something weird with Joe’s jawline in panels 1, 3, and 4? Panel 3, in particular, looks like a streak of white-out from his ear to his chin.

    (or, I dunno, for some strange reason he smeared toothpaste or something on there)

    (I actually suspect a layer mismatch in the graphics program, but there’s something that makes me want to imagine Joe having a toothbrushing mishap, and then just going “Meh, whatevs” and walking away in a funk instead of wiping and/or washing it off.)

    Joe: *hits on chicks*
    Someone hit upon: Gee, you really smell nice and minty fresh!
    Joe: OK, I deserve that.

    1. BBCC

      It’s the light shining on his face.

    2. sdrainbow

      In panel one, it’s clear that the white line is a strip of light. Panels 3 and 4 are weird looking because the outline of his jaw is broken.

  27. Icalasari

    Joe – Dealing with machismo and not sure what path to take in life, so sinking it into being a dudebro as it’s all he knew before even though it’s not as satisfying anymore
    Joyce – Dealing with a crisis of faith and feeling like a complete monster
    Becky – Dealing with major self esteem issues and not feeling good enough
    Mike – Dealing with feeling like he has to be the jerk even if he doesn’t want it anymore
    Amber – Dealing with feelings of what she has done for Walky, if it was a good idea, or if it will have massive repercussions
    Walky – Dealing with “How Much Food Can I Fit In My Gullet?”

    1. Meagan

      This kinda gave me insight what is going on with Mike. Like he might be realizing that he’s dug himself so far into his antagonistic persona, and now he realizes that he can’t really dig.himself back out.

  28. BenRG

    I might be on the wrong track but I think that Becky’s suddenly realised that, yes, Joe has a point: She hasn’t seen Dina for a while either!

  29. C.

    Ringo is apt here, because he wasn’t even the best drummer in the Beatles.

  30. Keulen

    DoA Book 10: This Talk’s Becoming Heartfelt, So I’m Out

  31. Jay

    Never change jo. Actually. Do change. But just enough to not be a sleezebag

    1. Shad Otterdan

      I love how Joe has consistently shown that underneath his toxic elements is a genuinely good heart. As he grows as a person I could very well see him becoming a great example of positive masculinity.

  32. Arianod

    It’s OK Joe, you’ll always be our Starr.

  33. John

    So does this make Guns Pete Best?

  34. Tab

    A “Disaster Lesbian” sounds like the equivalent of a “Dire Rat”

    1. Chris Phoenix

      Rodents Of Unusual Size? I don’t believe they exist.

      1. BarerMender

        Stand on a New York subway platform at 2a.m. and watch them run down the track.

    2. LeslieBean4shizzle

      **puts on wisdom fairy costume**

      “Disaster Lesbian” is a term/meme that refers to lesbians who are nervous or unable to speak properly around their lady crush (as Becky was initially tongue-tied around Dina).

  35. Charles Phipps

    Girls: With you? No.

  36. FacelessDeviant

    Ringo star. Also known as “The Beatle Who Did Very Good And Who’s Songs Will Be Put Up Right On The Fridge!”

    1. He Who Abides

      Also known as Sir Ringo Starr, thank you very much.

      1. Needfuldoer

        He still releases the occasional laid-back solo album.

      2. Charles Phipps

        He was Marge’s favorite!

  37. Rabisch

    Sad Becky is so painful to see.

  38. Cmd1095

    Oh Becky I wanna give you all the reassurances right now

    1. Bagge

      Dina already tried that!

      http://www.dumbingofage.com/2019/comic/book-10/01-birthday-pursuit/successful/

  39. Willoughby Chase

    Hey Joe, where you gonna go
    with that gun in your hand

  40. solace

    Joe looks good with stubble and unstyled hair.

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