I don’t have any foreknowledge of tomorrow’s strip, but it did occur to me that there is little tension among these three, and that it might be a set-up for them to receive an extraneous shock, such as some news.
Don’t tell me though. Don’t even tell me whether you can tell me.
clif
Tomorrow we cut to Walky eating Mcnuggets.
Keith Curtis
Or to Steve eating cereal and the whole strip moves to Northampton, Massachusetts.
anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Or crosses the border and ends up in Montreal where English speakers are an alien minority that most are unable or unwilling to communicate with.
Won’t THAT be fun?
Nonsense. Ethan will be standing in front of the mortuary. He will be escorted down the hall by a policeman to where the body is. The sheet will be pulled back. There will be a panel showing Ethan”s face. And then in the final panel, there on the slab will be Jacob.
Imagine not being able to tease your friends. Besides, it’s not that they want to encourage Sarah to be a social butterfly, or to be anyone other than the curmudgeonly misanthrope that she proudly is.
It’s okay to make fun of your friends, as long as everyone’s on board with it and no one gets hurt. Sarah’s obviously been on board from being just as teasing as the two of them from the get go.
The thing is that there is no way to say that you aren’t on board with it. When you ask people to stop, there are always some people who take that as a joke, and always some people who think that they are such good friends, and always someone hears about it who is glad to know of a way to get to you.
A lot of people just refuse to accept that you might have boundaries in this.
I mean, Dotty starts out saying they should leave her alone, so her saying they can stay is SORT of a “no it’s fine”
Sarah getting up and walking away is the “ok stop” vs. the last panel’s “well, I asked for it”
[source: introvert tired of people’s shit]
Agemegos
It’s a reluctant agreement that she would rather put up with the shit they’re going to give her for letting them sit there than with the shit they would give her for saying “no”. It is reluctant permission to give her the shit that the social convention dictated by extraverts says they are allowed to. It is not a freely-given invitation to snark at will. It does not indicate that Sarah welcomes and enjoys their smug extravert bullshit.
[source: perhaps even more introvert and more exhausted than you are]
But one side-effect of the Mike thing is that the pace of the strip has slowed down even more. It’s been six weeks to get to lunchtime. Add a couple of cliffhangers like this and by 2075 we will still be at the Christmas break.
Needfuldoer
Sooner or later, no matter what we do, we all succumb to entropy.
Eat Arby’s.
Sombrero
Willis’ buffer is the only known entity in the multiverse known to defy entropy with some measure of success.
OMG! They referenced a year! in 2076 fans of the comic are going to be sooo confused! Unless.. time machines? An alternate universe that travels backward in time?
I do think it would be funny as hell if he quietly went in and did that. The strip with Billie’s fake id birth date mentioned above would be the best place to start.
Of course, the really tricky part is breaking into everyone’s house and updating the paper copies he’s sold. 🙂
…I can’t help but recall the ominous scene in the film Watership Down, in which Fiver seeks Hazel, who’s disappeared after being shot. Propelled by clairivoyance, Fiver stares deep into the shadowy mouth of a sewer pipe….and faintly hears a slow, damp, heartbeat.
Bright Eyes, burning like fire…
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
let’s see we are ten years in but still less than 3 months in-comic so doing the math (2075-2020)/3.33 gives us an additional 16.516516516517 months so about the end of sophomore 1st semester.
I’m sure Dorothy is aware. She is very self-aware.
I’m sure Joyce is aware. She knows that she and Dorothy are soul mates that are meant to be together for ever and ever and ever (in a very platonic way, I’m sure).
I’m not really sure what delaying the news on Mike is supposed to accomplish besides irritate readers in a “not good” way. There’s no suspense, there’s just a bunch of “why” and not confronting it seems like a cheap way to extend out the story line longer than he needs to.
Honestly, I hope it’s to piss people. I am perfectly fine waiting. We’ll get there when we get there. I like seeing everyone’s every day life without random drama, we know it’s there, we just don’t normally see it cause that doesn’t make an interesting comic. The only thing annoying about waiting to hear about Mike is every day in the comments there’s at least someone going “where’s Mike?”. The joking ones are okay, if not redundant at this point, the whiny ones not so much.
It may also be that he’s got a particularly good way to handle the return to that plot in mind, but it needs to be later in the day (or night). In that case, the “delay” is a natural consequence of the slow pace of the strip. Can’t just skip over what’s going one with everyone else.
Mike, being Mike, believes his jerkass behavior is a ‘necessary’ thing, that people need him.
This whole thing is extended proof that life moves on without Mike.
80 thoughts on “Solitude”
Ana Chronistic
2075? So… almost spring break?
StClair
Beat me to it.
(okay, by a lot.)
clif
Actually, 2075 is the year we finally learn what happened to Mike.
Kyoulkoa
2075:the Mikening
King Daniel
I’m already pre-emptively bracing myself for tomorrow’s strip
Agemegos
Should i take that as ominous?
Agemegos
I don’t have any foreknowledge of tomorrow’s strip, but it did occur to me that there is little tension among these three, and that it might be a set-up for them to receive an extraneous shock, such as some news.
Don’t tell me though. Don’t even tell me whether you can tell me.
clif
Tomorrow we cut to Walky eating Mcnuggets.
Keith Curtis
Or to Steve eating cereal and the whole strip moves to Northampton, Massachusetts.
anonymousethatscurriesinthedarkness
Or crosses the border and ends up in Montreal where English speakers are an alien minority that most are unable or unwilling to communicate with.
Won’t THAT be fun?
AntJ
Ethan goes “y’know, I think I’ve decided I really just wanna date Mike, whom I loved all along” and then Willis confirms he’s dead
ktbear
^^ this.
clif
Nonsense. Ethan will be standing in front of the mortuary. He will be escorted down the hall by a policeman to where the body is. The sheet will be pulled back. There will be a panel showing Ethan”s face. And then in the final panel, there on the slab will be Jacob.
There will be no explanation until a month later.
Ana Chronistic
A month is generous
More like fifty of them
Rex Vivat
An in-universe month. So, 2075.
Agemegos
Dorothy, Joyce: great way to reward behaviour that you want to encourage. Really top-notch work.
Abdomino
Imagine not being able to tease your friends. Besides, it’s not that they want to encourage Sarah to be a social butterfly, or to be anyone other than the curmudgeonly misanthrope that she proudly is.
It’s okay to make fun of your friends, as long as everyone’s on board with it and no one gets hurt. Sarah’s obviously been on board from being just as teasing as the two of them from the get go.
Agemegos
The thing is that there is no way to say that you aren’t on board with it. When you ask people to stop, there are always some people who take that as a joke, and always some people who think that they are such good friends, and always someone hears about it who is glad to know of a way to get to you.
A lot of people just refuse to accept that you might have boundaries in this.
Ana Chronistic
I mean, Dotty starts out saying they should leave her alone, so her saying they can stay is SORT of a “no it’s fine”
Sarah getting up and walking away is the “ok stop” vs. the last panel’s “well, I asked for it”
[source: introvert tired of people’s shit]
Agemegos
It’s a reluctant agreement that she would rather put up with the shit they’re going to give her for letting them sit there than with the shit they would give her for saying “no”. It is reluctant permission to give her the shit that the social convention dictated by extraverts says they are allowed to. It is not a freely-given invitation to snark at will. It does not indicate that Sarah welcomes and enjoys their smug extravert bullshit.
[source: perhaps even more introvert and more exhausted than you are]
JBento
This is why you never give extroverts as much as an inch. They never fail to try to turn it into an Astronomical Unit.
Stephen Bierce
*plays “Leave Me Alone” on the hacked Muzak*
Slartibeast Button, BIA
*cues up “When I’m Old and Wise”*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4HI1_LTWIk
BBCC
Dorothy, don’t be silly, Sarah already said she likes you. Out loud, even.
Joyce, you know she does and she’s said it out loud, but her little sister so by law you are on thin fucking ice. 😛
Keulen
DoA Book 10: “Okay” Is A Very Precarious Tier
Slartibeast Button, BIA
2075? That will be the end of next summer break, right? Start of sophomore year?
AntJ
spring midterms at this rate
Keulen
I’d say the end of their freshman year at the latest.
Jamie
Oh, no, we’ll be working through the Advent Calendar.
Needfuldoer
If we estimate that generally one DoA week passes per real-world year, 2075 will be November of next school year.
Sombrero
But one side-effect of the Mike thing is that the pace of the strip has slowed down even more. It’s been six weeks to get to lunchtime. Add a couple of cliffhangers like this and by 2075 we will still be at the Christmas break.
Needfuldoer
Sooner or later, no matter what we do, we all succumb to entropy.
Eat Arby’s.
Sombrero
Willis’ buffer is the only known entity in the multiverse known to defy entropy with some measure of success.
Slartibeast Button, BIA
So we can have Ghost-Mike back for Halloween! Kewl!
DailyBrad
Friends are who we can really be smartasses with.
Agemegos
It works best if the “jokes” are actually witty.
Bagge
I love, love, LOVE the Joyce&Dorothy double act.
MaddMaxx
They got good chemistry it’s like watching the MOST in sync comedy duo/couple
John
I’m just waiting for the sliding timeline to make Dorothy(?)’s prediction in the past.
Also, Billie’s fake ID will claim that she’s 82, and the booze store clerk will still be going, “Yeah, looks plausible.”
King Daniel
Billie’s dad is rich, and can afford to buy her really good anti-aging creams.
thejeff
If Billie’s dad is still buying her anti-aging creams when she’s 82, he’s got to be keeping the really, really good ones for himself.
King Daniel
Well, naturally.
Liquid Len
Or a really good plastic surgeon on retainer!
Uly
In 2075, maybe they’ll be Sophomores.
Terry
OMG! They referenced a year! in 2076 fans of the comic are going to be sooo confused! Unless.. time machines? An alternate universe that travels backward in time?
clif
You don’t understand. There’s a floating timeline, so every year Willis will go into the comic and nudge the date by 1.
thejeff
I do think it would be funny as hell if he quietly went in and did that. The strip with Billie’s fake id birth date mentioned above would be the best place to start.
Of course, the really tricky part is breaking into everyone’s house and updating the paper copies he’s sold. 🙂
Tacos
In 2075 everybody will be too busy fighting against our Robot Overlords to be admiring holograms.
Bicycle Bill
Considering the state of US politics today (and where it appears to be going in the future), I think I would almost welcome the robot overlords.
clif
Robots? Soggies may rule.
questionwriter
-b-b-but…Where Is Mike???
…I can’t help but recall the ominous scene in the film Watership Down, in which Fiver seeks Hazel, who’s disappeared after being shot. Propelled by clairivoyance, Fiver stares deep into the shadowy mouth of a sewer pipe….and faintly hears a slow, damp, heartbeat.
Bright Eyes, burning like fire…
How can the light that burned so brightly
Suddenly burn so pale?
Opus the Poet
let’s see we are ten years in but still less than 3 months in-comic so doing the math (2075-2020)/3.33 gives us an additional 16.516516516517 months so about the end of sophomore 1st semester.
BenRG
As soon as 2075? That’s an optimistic prediction!
I wonder if Joyce and Dorothy are aware of just how a perfectly-organised double-act they’ve become?
Bagge
I’m sure Dorothy is aware. She is very self-aware.
I’m sure Joyce is aware. She knows that she and Dorothy are soul mates that are meant to be together for ever and ever and ever (in a very platonic way, I’m sure).
BenRG
Although, I do wonder if Joyce realises, in some part of her psyche, that she really doesn’t know where ‘platonic’ ends.
Kamino Neko
Yes, she does…she commented once that growing up with Becky skewed her idea of platonic interaction.
DarkoNeko
alt text : meh, close enough
Josh Spicer
I’m not really sure what delaying the news on Mike is supposed to accomplish besides irritate readers in a “not good” way. There’s no suspense, there’s just a bunch of “why” and not confronting it seems like a cheap way to extend out the story line longer than he needs to.
BenRG
It’s simple. It ensures that everyone visits the site every day in the hope that they’ll find out.
Diane
Honestly, I hope it’s to piss people. I am perfectly fine waiting. We’ll get there when we get there. I like seeing everyone’s every day life without random drama, we know it’s there, we just don’t normally see it cause that doesn’t make an interesting comic. The only thing annoying about waiting to hear about Mike is every day in the comments there’s at least someone going “where’s Mike?”. The joking ones are okay, if not redundant at this point, the whiny ones not so much.
Sombrero
I guess you are aware that we are getting these everyday strips because the drama knob is about to be suddenly push to 11.
Sombrero
*pushed
Diane
Oh yeah…I’m unfortunately aware. At least the chaos it will bring will be entertaining, I hope.
He Who Abides
So, Mike’s fate is like a wizard?
thejeff
It may also be that he’s got a particularly good way to handle the return to that plot in mind, but it needs to be later in the day (or night). In that case, the “delay” is a natural consequence of the slow pace of the strip. Can’t just skip over what’s going one with everyone else.
clif
Semi-seriously , I’m expecting it will come with tonight’s return of Amazigirl. Assuming she ever returns.
Kamino Neko
Amazi-Girl returning requires Mike returning alive and well. If Mike died because she failed, that would be it for Amazi-Girl.
So, no, she’s never coming back. Willis is going to transfer his desire to draw superhero action to Sarah.
Ragnarok101
Mike, being Mike, believes his jerkass behavior is a ‘necessary’ thing, that people need him.
This whole thing is extended proof that life moves on without Mike.
Sombrero